Maryland public university graduate students and faculty are demanding collective bargaining rights from the state government for the 20,000 public academic workers currently denied the right to join a union. Maryland currently has a Democratic majority in its legislature as well as a Democratic governor. Jaisal Noor reports from Annapolis.
Videography / Post-Production: Jaisal Noor
Transcript
Sen. Ben Kramer: What is it they are afraid of? They know the facts are that they are not treating the workers with the respect and the dignity that they should be doing.
[Crowd chanting]
Lenora Knowles: I’m living paycheck to paycheck. It’s definitely not a living wage. One life crisis away from not being able to pay rent.
Jaisal Noor: Fed up with low pay and poor working conditions, over 50 professors, graduate students, and their supporters rallied for the right to join a union.
Linda Foley: Even at the University of Iowa, for goodness sake, they have collective bargaining rights for grad assistants. We should be able to do that here in Maryland.
Reporter: Maryland denies the over 20,000 professors and grad assistants it employs collective bargaining rights — But supporters hope this is the year that’s going to change.
Maryland has a Democratic trifecta and supermajority in the state legislature; almost all other state workers can join a union.
Sen. Jill Carter: For better outcomes for our students, for better input into the academic process, for equity, for ending disparities, for fair treatment, access to resources, all those reasons, we need collective bargaining.
Jaisal Noor: University officials argue that grad assistants can’t unionize because they are students, not workers.
Ivy Lyons: You are a worker. You clock hours, you take time out of your day, and you are compensated for that work. If we understand what work is and we understand the value of work for faculty and staff, then we should also understand the security, the things that they need to survive.
Jaisal Noor: Grad students at Johns Hopkins, a private University based in Maryland, overwhelmingly voted to unionize in 2023.
Justin Otter: Strong academic unions mean better conditions for academic workers. Strong academic unions mean students get the best education possible. And I’m here today because your fight at public Maryland universities is our fight at Johns Hopkins.
[Crowd chanting]
Jaisal Noor: Union benefits extend beyond better pay, benefits, and working conditions.
Luka Arsenjuk: It’s important to know that it would improve the conditions of grad students and faculty, but it’s also really important to stress that it would improve the higher education
Marcus Johnson: This is a simple democratic right. The state of Maryland is a super majority of Democrats.
Jaisal Noor: In this critical election year, organizers say it’s incumbent Democrats deliver to working people.
Marcus Johnson: It’s on the fundamental platform of the Democratic Party for this election year. Our state is out of step with them. And so it really is incumbent on these legislators to step up, do their jobs, and support collective bargaining.
Jaisal Noor: For The Real News, this is Jaisal Noor.
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This post was originally published on The Real News Network.
