First contracts are often the most difficult to negotiate; however for bargaining team members they are also very exciting. United Academics of Maryland - Prince George’s rallied on Thursday April 18, 2024 ahead of their first bargaining session. Faculty gathered at the Center for Performing Arts building, dressed in red to support those who would go in to negotiate with the College. The excitement was palpable as faculty greeted each other who arrived with smiles and salutations.
JDavid James, Associate Professor and Program Director of Medical Assisting, who is also on the bargaining team, was ready for negotiations to get started. He noted he was “looking forward to a rules based way of doing things and not just the adhoc way that the college was doing things. [I’m] looking forward to a more fair way of dialoguing and dealing with faculty.”
Excitement about the stability that a collectively-bargained contract would bring was top of mind among a number of faculty attending the rally. Dan Collins-Cavanaugh, a Professor of Philosophy and Coordinator for the Philosophy Area in the Department of Humanities reiterated the need for clear governance. “One thing this place has struggled with is clarity and having things explicitly stated. So people come up with stuff, and they think it’s a policy, but nobody knows and nobody can find it. Having a union contract will bring clarity, an explicit set of things everybody can point to, and I think that’s important for everybody. For faculty, for administrators, for students, this is going to give everybody the actual rules that they can look to and follow that will be set in a way that’s going to benefit the institution.”
The rally, and the broader union effort drew a number of different participants for a number of different reasons. Some faculty, who chose not to speak on the record, were grateful for the collective action and advocacy of their colleagues who served on the bargaining team. Others, like Latasha Cousar, Nursing Lab and Simulation Coordinator and Associate Professor, agreed to be on the bargaining team despite being a self professed “introvert by nature.” Cousar went on to say, “Coming from the south and knowing that if you stand by and do nothing, nothing will happen. You need to get up and you need to say something because there are other people who are voiceless and scared just as I once was. So if I can show that courage to them, maybe we can get more people on board.”
Bargaining for first contracts can sometimes take six months to a year to finally reach an agreement. Once a tentative agreement is reached, it must be ratified by the entire union before it can go into effect.
Article & Photos by AFT Maryland Staff
2024-04-24