Building a Stronger Union: Administrators, Supervisors, and Higher Ed Faculty Join MSEA
MSEA members and staff are busy helping educators unionize for power and the ability to improve their jobs through collective action. Since the law passed in 2021 allowing community college faculty to unionize, combined with the recent growth of administrators and supervisors unions, these new members are flexing their power for better working conditions, pay, and policies to improve teaching and learning in their schools and institutions.
Administrators and supervisors are unionized in 10 counties in Maryland, with Calvert County being the most recently recognized. Several more independent administrator and supervisor (A&S) locals (those without formal union affiliation or support) have inquired about the possibility of joining MSEA. In each case, these locals have reached out to MSEA due to the growing complexity of representing their administrator and supervisor members. They are seeking the skills that MSEA can bring in recognizing and acting on their new power as a union of collective workers.
For higher ed faculty in Maryland, the fight for respect, pay, and working conditions is along one. And, like the A&S local unions, these new affiliates are gaining comfort, skills, and power inorganizing for a better workplace.
As of 2024, according to Forbes, “approximately 27% of faculty members were represented by unions in the U.S. The total union membership was 402,217 faculty at over 600 institutions across 30 states and the District of Columbia. Nationwide, there were 775 faculty bargaining units across both public and private sector institutions.”
The Union of Harford Community College Faculty (UHCCF), which won recognition as a union in June 2023, is making progress. They kicked off bargaining for their first contract on January 7 with a large and representative delegation of the faculty. Their first contract campaign aims to eliminate unpaid work and create a safer, more equitable college dedicated to principles of workplace democracy. “We brought our intellect, our voices, and our resolve to the table,” says Elizabeth Holmes, UHCCF secretary. “This is not just bargaining—it’s the fight for the future of higher education, for dignity, and for the power of unity. We’re making history!”
At Anne Arundel Community College (AACC), a campaign by leaders recently resulted in the important win they’d been working toward for nearly two years when Riverhawks Educators United (REU), the fulltime faculty and instructional staff union at AACC, reached majority support. More than half of the faculty and instructional staff have signed membership cards committing to join REU and work together for a better AACC. Their next step is to file for recognition and build a union that represents the faculty’s needs and priorities. And on the Eastern Shore, the Wor-Wic Community College Faculty Association (WWCCFA) is currently in their eighth month of contract negotiations with the college.
How can affiliating with MSEA support higher education faculty and administrator and supervisors? As with MSEA’s certificated and support staff units, newly represented members now have the experience and expertise of MSEA in workplace representation with dedicated UniServ directors, MSEA legal counsel, and support and training to take collective action at boards of education and county councils on policies that can improve their work and their workplace.