Collective bargaining is the negotiation of a contract—including wages, benefits, and working conditions—between employers and employees, and it’s one of the most important things that the association does for educators and school employees across Maryland.
MSEA’s local affiliates negotiate contracts with local school boards over salaries, benefits, and a range of working conditions that affect you and your colleagues and the students you serve.
But your local negotiating team isn’t working in a vacuum. Locals are assisted by experienced MSEA staff as well as the association’s Coordinated Bargaining Councils (CBCs), regional networks of local leaders and staff who meet monthly during the school year to share their strategies and experiences with bargaining win-win contracts for employees and the community.
Many counties are still struggling with local boards that don’t realize how seriously these issues affect the attraction and retention of school employees and the appeal of an education career, when so many other job markets are more lucrative and decidedly less stressful.
After collective bargaining agreements are reached, MSEA’s local affiliates and staff focus on contract enforcement—making sure that school boards live up to the letter and the spirit of the negotiated agreements and that your employee rights are upheld.
Organizing is key to the bargaining equation. The greatest strength comes not just from numbers, but from the number of informed and engaged members who work together to lobby for change, seek improvements in their working conditions, or work for any other important step that members determine is a priority. That’s why educators value their MSEA membership: It gives them more say on the issues that affect them every day in the classroom, school building, and worksite.
