About 1,000 medical residents and fellows at the University of Maryland Medical Center voted overwhelmingly to ratify their first contract with the health system’s flagship hospital in downtown Baltimore, it was announced Thurssday.

Union officials said there were months of negotiations that ended with the doctors winning a 20% raise over the next three years, the establishment of a labor-management committee to address concerns and other benefits the union members say are more in line with other academic institutions.

“From day one, we have been fighting for a contract that allows us to stay focused on our patients and not on things like how we’ll afford to live in the city we work in, protect our rights as trainees, get home after a long shift, or manage mounting student-loan debt,” said Dr. Lo Tamburro, bargaining chair for the local unit of AFT Maryland.

“This contract secures the improved wages, benefits, and protections we need to sustain ourselves and better fulfill our shared mission of supporting the health of all Baltimoreans.”

The union was formed a year ago through AFT Maryland, which is an affiliate of the American Federation of Teachers. Typically doctors and nurses in the Baltimore area do not have unions, but nurses at Ascension Saint Agnes Hospital formed a union in 2023 through National Nurses United and have been negotiating a contract since January 2024. The nurses held a one-day strike last month to protest workforce shortages.

Other hospitals, including the state’s public hospitals that treat behavioral health patients, have some unionized workers. Some Johns Hopkins Hospital support staff members are unionized.

Those unionized at the University of Maryland Medical Center are residents and fellows, who have finished medical school and are required to get supervised on-the-job training in specific fields of medicine and subspecialties.

At the University of Maryland Medical Center, officials called medical education and training a “foundational element” of the hospital’s mission.

“Throughout this process we have remained focused on providing high-quality and compassionate care for our patients and communities, and we appreciate the passion and innovation our residents and fellows provide to make this possible,” the statement said.