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Meet MCEA member Ray Crosby. He is a 39-year veteran of State and County Service in Harford County. Throughout his two decades of membership in MCEA Chapter 610, he has served the union in a number of roles including chief steward, county chair, and chapter treasurer. In Harford County he is a Senior Water Plant Operator and monitors water quality for a plant that produces 20 million gallons a day. His hard work goes to ensuring that there is safe drinking water for the residents and that county emergency services such as the fire department are up and running in case of emergency.

Being a

The following is a primer on the AFT-Maryland and the endorsement process for the federal races.

The AFT-Maryland is a federation of local unions of the AFT within the state, including the Baltimore Teachers Union, the City Union of Baltimore, the Maryland Public Employee Council (for state employees), the AFT-Healthcare Maryland (for state healthcare workers), the Baltimore County Federation of Public Employees, the Maryland Classified Employee Association, to name just a few.

The unions of the AFT-Maryland participate fully in the endorsement process of the Maryland and DC AFL-CIO. For the US

All across Baltimore, students and families alike were revved up for the start of the 2015-16 school year. The Baltimore Teachers Union was excited to participate in the 10th Annual Back to School Give-A-Way and rally at Warwick Park in West Baltimore on Saturday, August 29th. The event featured high profile city officials including States' Attorney Marilyn Mosby, her husband (and City Councilman) Nick Mosby, as well as State Senator Joan Carter-Conway. The event was hosted by Bilal Ali Productions and Bridges & Son's Grocery.

The union was able to touch different parts of the community. We did

Continuing with AFT efforts to promote democracy and add more voices to the political process locally and nationally, AFT-Maryland Political Coordinator Todd Reynolds led a voter registration drive Sunday August 16th at Macedonia Baptist Church in Baltimore, Md. The drive was but a small example of the "Reclaim Baltimore" initiative introduced at the 2015 AFT-Maryland Convention.

The initiative focused on revitalizing the city in the wake of the unrest after the Freddie Gray death. One aspect was to increase citizen participation in the political process. With a Presidential, Senate, Mayoral &

Barry Glassman, Harford County Executive, signed union contracts with Maryland Classified Employees Association (MCEA) and AFSCME. MCEA Union officials present for the signing were chapter president William Sullivan, VP Amanda Weyant, secretary Michael Hiob, treasurer Ray Crosby, and Michael Keeney, MCEA staff representative.

The contracts allow for qualified county employees to receive a $1,000 merit raise in 2016. The County Executive said that, “these increases are fully funded through cost-savings identified by my administration in our budget for the fiscal year 2016.”  The new budget will

Teachers, paraprofessionals, and AFT members and personnel from all over the nation came to Washington D.C. to take part in AFT TEACH 2015: Together Educating America’s Children. The three-day conference featured a number of panels, workshops, plenary sessions, and town halls all organized around the idea of improving the quality of public education for the nation's young people.

AFT-Maryland played a huge role in the events with strong representation from various members and officers. Baltimore Teachers Union and AFT-Maryland President Marietta English was in attendance and participated in