How Union Contract Negotiations Impact UMMC Contract Renewal

TL;DR: Things will be staying business as usual until we ratify our first contract, which could be before or after the start of the new 2025-2026 academic year. Please sign your renewal contracts from UMMC! Signing the renewal contract does not interfere with the future of our first union contract. Please reach out if you have any questions.

Building a strong union takes time. We are currently going into our 6th month of bargaining but we know winning our first contract requires a lot of organization, planning, and collective support. There are many variables that go into negotiating a first contract and, based on the experience of other Housestaff unions, we can expect it to take months at best to more than a year. So far, we have made good progress, but continuing that trend relies on our ability to show we are united behind our Bargaining Committee, and we will not settle for less than we deserve.

That said, it is difficult to say whether or not we will be able to ratify our first contract before the start of the upcoming 2025-2026 academic year. Importantly though, during the interim period where we are officially unionized, but don’t have a ratified first contract, we will still benefit from the rights and benefits of union membership (Weingarten Rights, status quo protections, etc.). This means that UMMC must legally keep the status quo to maintain current working conditions, benefits, and terms of employment until our new agreement is reached. So, you will see your contracts for the 2025-2026 year still include the typical cost of living and PGY year adjustments as part of maintaining the status quo.

Signing the current contract being offered by UMMC for the 2025-2026 year does not interfere with the future of our first union contract even if our negotiations extend into the upcoming academic year. So please sign your renewal contracts from UMMC! The second paragraph of your renewal contract outlines that for any differences between the terms of the current renewal and the final collective bargaining agreement, “the collective bargaining agreement shall control,” so our ratified bargaining agreement will supersede the current contract.

We will continue to communicate with you all on how bargaining is going and make sure everyone is ready to vote on our first union contract when we reach the ratification stage. Again, once our first contract is ratified, it will supersede your renewal contracts or first time contracts the incoming interns and fellows are signing. Also of note, no one will pay any dues until there is a ratified contract in place and we have voted on how much they will be. 

Remember, the only way we can get Admin to meet the expectations of our unit and ratify our first contract quickly is if everyone continues to stay engaged and comes out in support of our union. We appreciate your continued engagement and dedication to building solidarity among housestaff to create a better UMMC for all of us and our patients. If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to email us or reach out to us in our WhatsApp group.