MD employees union files labor charge against USM, Moore administration over raises

The state employees union filed a labor charge against Gov. Wes Moore‘s administration and the University System of Maryland on Thursday and says it is pursuing a lawsuit, accusing them of withholding negotiated merit pay increases.

Dozens of American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees members employed or recently laid off by the university system rallied in Baltimore on Thursday morning. They decried USM Chancellor Jay A. Perman and other members of leadership for allegedly not making good on the raises agreed upon in their contracts.

An unfair labor practice charge was filed with the Maryland Public Employee Relations Board, and a lawsuit against the Moore administration and the University System of Maryland will be filed Thursday, according to Patrick Moran, president of the union’s Maryland chapter.

The 12-school system did not immediately respond to a request for comment Thursday.

Rhyan Lake, a spokesperson for Moore, said in a statement that the governor and legislature provided increased resources to the university system “to help meet their operational and staffing needs, including their obligations under their Collective Bargaining Agreement.”

The university system operates independently of the Moore administration.

“If the football coach has a contract and they’re obligated to pay them $5 million a year — or more, probably — are they going to short that contract unless there’s something absolutely egregious? No, they aren’t,” Moran said at a news conference outside Perman’s Baltimore office. “So why do they feel they have the right to do that to the hardworking people behind me that make sure the students have a great place to go to school every day?”

Moran said officials in the university system have told the union that “unless the state explicitly says they are funding the wage and salary adjustments, they are not honoring our agreement.”

“The fact of the matter is, USM is once again lying,” Moran said as Sherri Roxas, the senior director of labor for the university system, and other USM officials listened from yards away. “They say there’s a budget crisis and no funding for raises, then they turn around and spend millions on fancy consultants — needless consultants, unneeded consultants — and bloated salaries.”

Money for university employee raises and cost-of-living increases was appropriated in the state budget by the Maryland General Assembly, Senate President Bill Ferguson, D-Baltimore City, confirmed at a June rally ahead of a board of regents meeting.

“The money was there,” Ferguson said at the time.

Moran alleged that Moore and his administration have stayed silent rather than hold the university system accountable.

Additionally, Moran said union officials had met with Perman in April, when he assured that layoffs were not forthcoming and would be used as a last resort. In late May, nearly 100 AFSCME members were laid off by the university system.

One of them was Daisy McDowell, who had worked at Bowie State University for almost 30 years. She said at the rally that she has “been OK” since she was let go but admitted that her future “looks hard” and that she is struggling to find another job.

Claudette Booth, an AFSCME member and administrative assistant at the University of Baltimore, said to the crowd: “There’s a lot of justified anger here today. But I’m not mad — I’m disappointed. I’m heartbroken.”

Booth, who has worked at the university for 14 years, said her trust with her employer was broken when she learned her negotiated raise would not be honored.

“Withholding our raises creates a culture of fear and uncertainty in our workplace that even our students do feel,” she said. “They signed a contract, and now they need to honor it.”

This story has been updated.

Correction: A previous version of this article incorrectly reported that a lawsuit had already been filed Thursday morning. We regret the error.