Despite the challenges presented by the COVID-19 pandemic, MCEA was able to successfully hold its 2020 convention. With the help of the American Federation of Teachers (AFT), we held our convention remotely, digitally, and safely. After all, the work of protecting the rights of our membership is too important to let fall by the wayside.

Some of the important achievements of this convention include:

• the passage of updated bylaws;
• the passage of a budget that continues through 2021;
• the passage of a dues increase of $.50, making our monthly dues $22.75; and
• the unopposed nomination of President Linda

MCEA members at Salisbury University scored huge in their fight for a fair, updated contract. On September 8, 2020, MCEA bargaining unit members, voting unanimously, ratified their new memorandum of understanding (MOU). The MOU took nearly two years to negotiate and finalize—in large part, due to the tenacity of MCEA’s bargaining team, who took the contract to mediation and ultimately requested the intervention of a fact-finder under Maryland’s collective bargaining act.

The contract was not set to expire until February 2019, but MCEA asked to begin negotiations in January 2018.  The