Student employees at the University of Maryland need the right to collectively bargain.

In 2012, graduate students in the state of Maryland pushed for a bill giving them collective bargaining rights. The Legislature was poised to pass it, but, behind closed doors, a deal was made to create the “meet and confer” process that we currently follow.

Meet and confer isn’t working. Many of the requirements outlined in this process are not being followed and, in many situations, graduate employment concerns are not taken seriously. Intellectual property, salary, unclear expectations and family leave issues are just a few examples that graduate employees face. Undergraduate employees also face significant challenges. For example, at the College Park campus, the university pays student workers a wage below the Prince George’s County minimum.

In August of 2016, the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) ruled that graduate and undergraduate students working for private universities are entitled to collective bargaining rights. However, the NLRB has no jurisdiction over public universities.

Thus, we are asking the Maryland state legislature to pass a bill legally classifying student workers as what we are: employees. The passage of this bill would give us the right to collectively bargain.

Student employees need collective bargaining because:

1) Collective bargaining will make us competitive with our peer institutions. The University of Wisconsin, University of Illinois, University of Michigan, Michigan State University, Rutgers University and the entire California State University System are just a few institutions whose graduate employees are unionized.

2) We deserve better than working in limbo. We should be able to count on the university to provide stipends that support our education and cost of living, an intellectual property policy that covers student employees’ contributions, and sensible accommodations for student employees who are parents. Collective bargaining provides certainty that the university will deliver on its commitments as our employer!

3) Student employees face similar employment situations even as Teaching Assistants, Research Assistants, Administrative Assistants and undergraduate student employees certainly experience different problems in their own right. Through legally ­binding contracts and an employee union, student workers could tackle common concerns together and support each other’s particular struggles.

Sign on to support our FEARLESS STUDENT EMPLOYEES coalition and tell the government of the State of Maryland to give us the employee rights that we deserve!