FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Feldman Strategies, team@feldmanstrategies.com
May 28, 2025
Hundreds of UMMC Residents & Fellows Send Petition to CEO Demanding Improved Working Conditions
The bargaining team – made up of residents and fellows – have spent months at the table fighting for their first contract on behalf of nearly one thousand colleagues who voted to unionize almost one year ago in June 2024
BALTIMORE – Today, resident and fellow physicians at the University of Maryland Medical Center (UMMC) – who have spent months fighting to secure a fair union contract in the face of delay tactics from hospital management – have sent a new petition to UMMC CEO, Dr. Bert O’Malley, demanding the improved working conditions, benefits, and increased wages they deserve.
In the just-sent letter, UMMC residents and fellows, who are unionized as the University of Maryland Resident and Fellow Alliance (UMRFA) - an affiliate of AFT Maryland – are calling for Dr. O’Malley’s intervention in the bargaining process, which has shown a disregard for the critical economic issues residents and fellows are facing as management has failed to have any substantive negotiation on wages, benefits, and key economic needs.
Despite working up to 80 hours a week, these critical medical professionals receive pay and benefits that are far behind those of other Baltimore City residency programs. Residents and fellows believe that an agreement will improve labor relations, strengthen their relationship with hospital leaders, and improve health outcomes throughout Baltimore.
“My colleagues and I chose to train at UMMC because we are committed to serving the Baltimore community,” said Andrew Gilmore, Chair of the UMRFA Bargaining Committee and Pulmonary Critical Care Fellow at the University of Maryland Medical Center. “We are an essential part of the hospital's operations, but our work is increasingly difficult under our current conditions – it is hard to work long hours taking care of patients when financial strains weigh on our minds and there is no tangible support from UMMC or other benefits our counterparts receive at neighboring institutions.”
“We are calling on UMMC to meet us more earnestly at the table and consider providing wages and benefits that reduce the stress housestaff are under, so we can be more effective in our shared mission of supporting the health of our patients and the city,” continued Gilmore.
The UMRFA bargaining team shared their economic proposals back in January. Yet, months later, UMMC’s counter proposals lack meaningful changes to working conditions, wages, or benefits that would bring it up to the standards set by other Baltimore residency programs.
“Residents and fellows at UMMC are the backbone of Baltimore's healthcare system,” said AFT Maryland President Kenya Campbell. “An agreement that addresses wage gaps and guarantees job protections isn’t just about fairness, it also ensures better care for every Baltimore resident in need. We will not stop fighting until UMMC’s residents and fellows have the wages, benefits, and workplace protections they need to continue serving our community.”
