Collective Bargaining Win in Maryland Makes History

The United Academics of Maryland at the University of Maryland released the following statement on April 10, 2026:

Starting July 1, 2026, thousands of non-tenure-track faculty across Maryland's four-year public universities will have the right to bargain collectively for the first time in history. Faculty across the state are cheering the passage of Senate Bill 6/House Bill 106, which now heads to the desk of Governor Wes Moore. The bill covers full- and part-time non-tenure-track faculty in instructional roles and some faculty in research positions across Maryland.

The massive victory is the result of years of lobbying by faculty organized under the umbrella of United Academics of Maryland (AAUP-AFT). Karin Rosemblatt, president of UAM at the University of Maryland-College Park, applauded the hundreds of faculty members-tenured and tenure-track, as well as non-tenure-track-who wrote letters, made phone calls, signed petitions, attended rallies, and testified before the Maryland General Assembly.

"Faculty are fed up and scared," Rosemblatt said, "but they are not sitting still. Our universities are under attack. Our academic freedom is being radically curtailed by the illegal moves of the Trump administration, and our administrations feel their hands are tied. Funding for higher education has been stagnant for almost two decades. Students are forced to learn under the pressure of debt and overcrowded classrooms. Our shared governance structures are routinely circumvented or sidelined. But collective bargaining will help faculty fight back. With a union, they will win the job security and resources that will make for better work, better teaching, and better research."

The bill's passage follows another significant victory for vulnerable faculty at Maryland's public higher education institutions late last year. When researchers' jobs were imperiled by antiscience federal funding cuts, UAM campaigned for bridge funding for researchers in climate science, public health, and other targeted fields. And they won. The University of Maryland-College Park and the University of Maryland, Baltimore, committed $8.75 million to support these researchers.

UAM will now work with the AAUP and AFT to secure representation and, ultimately, a contract for better pay, long-term security, and much more. It will also work to secure the passage of legislation covering the faculty who are not included in the current bill. Nothing less than the future of higher education in Maryland is at stake.