Residents and fellows at the University of Maryland Medical Center voted unanimously Thursday to ratify their first-ever union contract, after months of negotiations.

The workers, who are among UMMC’s 900 residents and fellows, are represented by the University of Maryland Resident and Fellow Alliance, which is an affiliate of AFT Maryland, the Maryland chapter of the American Federation of Teachers.

The University of Maryland Resident and Fellow Alliance (UMRFA) unanimously voted to ratify its first-ever union contract with the University of Maryland Medical Center. 

The union’s first-ever collective bargaining agreement (CBA) includes a 20% salary increase over the next three years, an additional week of vacation time and major improvements to quality of life.

After nearly nine months of negotiations, the University of Maryland Medical Center reached an agreement with the union representing the approximately 900 residents and fellows employed at its facilities.

The agreement, which was announced Thursday evening, gives new doctors a 20% raise over the next three years, improves the conditions of work and call rooms and creates a Labor-Management Committee to keep the line of communication open between leadership and employees.

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 a historic first for Maryland, residents and fellow physicians at the University of Maryland Medical Center have voted to unionize, according to election results shared Thursday night by the Maryland chapter of the American Federation of Teachers.

Residents and fellows — doctors who have graduated from medical school and are receiving postgraduate training in their specialties — voted 628 to 19 to form a union in an election held by the National Labor Relations Board.

A group of more than 600 doctors at the University of Maryland Medical Center voted to form a union, according to a preliminary vote tally.

The tallied vote came in Thursday night as 628 voting for and 19 against. To win union certification, they needed just a simple majority of those who chose to vote.

Ari Goldstein, a third-year family medicine resident, called it an “emotional day” for the doctors at medical centers, adding that organizers put “countless hours” into the union effort. It’s the first unionization of residents and fellows in Maryland, according to a statement by the American Federation of Teachers Maryland, which will represent the doctors.

Doctors at the University of Maryland Medical Center who are seeking to unionize have reached a stipulated agreement with management at the hospital to hold a secret ballot election conducted by the National Labor Relations Board.

The election will be held at the hospital’s downtown campus and its midtown campus over two days, June 12-13. The results will determine whether the union is established.

Resident physicians and fellows at the University of Maryland Medical Center have notified the hospitals’ leaders of their intent to unionize and begin the collective bargaining process.

The group includes about 950 residents — doctors who have graduated from medical school but are getting post-graduate training in their specialties — between the downtown and midtown campuses, according to medical center spokeswoman Tiffani Washington. They are organizing with the Maryland chapter of the American Federation of Teachers.

If the drive is successful, it will be the first time that a group of residents and fellows unionizes in Maryland, said Ray Baker, AFT Maryland’s communications director.

Workers at one downtown Baltimore hospital are joining a national push labor organizing push.

“We work tirelessly to support each other and our patients and deserve to be heard. We demand better for not only ourselves, but for everyone we serve as well,” resident Ari Goldstein said in a news release.

Baltimore, MD - Resident physicians and fellows at the University of Maryland Medical Center (UMMC) delivered a petition to the President and CEO of the institution declaring their intention to form a union and expressing their desire to begin collective bargaining. This action follows years of organizing

Ari Goldstein, a member of the union’s organizing committee, said the group delivered a letter to the medical center’s management Thursday afternoon asking for recognition. Organizers said they had a brief, congenial meeting with management after delivering the letter.

“We’re one of the main engines that make the hospital work, along with nurses, along with techs,” Goldstein said. “The hospital has to have us to function.”