Baltimore City Community College faculty ratify first union contract

After nearly a year and a half of bargaining, the faculty union at Baltimore City Community College ratified its first contract on Monday, earning a nearly 9% raise and new protections.

The union, represented by United Academics of Maryland, Local 6628, voted to ratify the contract on Monday. The victory makes BCCC the seventh institution represented by the union to ratify a contract since the Maryland legislature first granted community college faculty the right to bargain in 2021.

In a statement, Angelique Cook-Hayes, UAMD president and a faculty member at the community college, called the negotiations “challenging” and said faculty “worked alongside the broader BCCC community to address key issues including due process, seniority, compensation, and the inclusion of program coordinators in the bargaining unit.”

Community college officials did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The ratified contract means that BCCC faculty will see wage increases of at least 8.25% over the life of the contract, with a 3.25% raise and $1,000 bonus awarded the first year. There will also be clearer criteria for promotion, protections and an agreement that ensures that faculty members keep their union if the community college ever merges or reduces its employee count.

That’s an especially useful provision for BCCC faculty, given Kurt Schmoke, the president of the University of Baltimore, having proposed last year bringing the two-year college under his university; the plan hasn’t made much progress since Schmoke announced his impending retirement. Most faculty at four-year universities in Maryland do not have the right to collectively bargain.

The contract comes as the city’s community college struggles to attract students and bring in revenue.

Earlier this summer, a legislative audit uncovered that the two-year college gave out over a quarter-million dollars in financial aid funds to fictitious students. Despite national trends of growing community college enrollment, Baltimore’s community college has struggled to recruit and retain students; enrollment has fallen for nearly 20 years.

The community college’s main campus sits on a pocket of land in Northwest Baltimore, up the road from Mondawmin Mall and Coppin State University. Founded in 1947, the college offers 30 associate degree programs and, according to the U.S. Department of Education, enrolled about 3,700 students last year. Two-thirds of the student body is Black, and 48% received a Pell Grant, awarded to students with exceptional need.

Enrollment had fallen by a third between 2006 and 2016, according to a report released 10 years ago to the state’s General Assembly. Revenue was also down about 13%, and the completion rate for students was 20% lower than the state’s average. The report gave a plethora of recommendations, few of which the community college followed. BCCC did not join the University System of Maryland as the report suggested, nor did it narrow its academic focus or solve its tech issues.

Little has changed at the community college since the 2016 report, faculty say.

“We don’t have faith in the administration,” Cook-Hayes said. “There has been a long-term trust issue.”

The bargaining between faculty and the community college’s administration was long-lasting and hard fought, according to union leaders.

“For 19 months, faculty showed up at the bargaining table in good faith, negotiating — and now overwhelmingly ratifying — an agreement that reflects the dedication they bring to their students every day,” said Kenya Campbell, President of AFT Maryland.

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