Teachers in Gloucester, Beverly and Marblehead will remain on strike heading into another school week as halting negotiations failed to reach a deal again over the weekend.
Monday marks the seventh day on strike for the Gloucester and Beverly teachers unions and the sixth day for the Marblehead educators.
Teachers strikes are illegal under Massachusetts state law and all three unions were ordered to pay $50,000 fines a day plus $10,000 each day the teachers remain on strike. If the strikes last through the work day Monday, Beverly and Gloucester unions face $260,000 in fines and the MEA faces $180,000.
Educators continued to express frustration over what they called stall tactics meant to “punish” the unions with through the increasing fines. Beverly teachers said they were dismissed from negotiations by the mediator early Sunday night.
“The community updates claim they want to bargain in good faith, but their attorneys say otherwise,” said BTA co-President Andrea Sherman, referencing a court hearing scheduled Monday. “Tomorrow, the School Committee will argue they have no obligation to bargain with us. That’s been painfully obvious over the last 11 days. They’re waiting for the courts to punish educators. They want to stop the union. They don’t care that kids are being hurt.”
Teachers have highlighted key demands including significant salary increases across the board and particularly for lower-paid paraprofessionals and at least eight weeks of paid parental leave. Other asks include school safety provisions, leave for sick family members and pregnancy loss and lunch and recess breaks.
School committee updates over the weekend highlighted progress, while continuing to press back on issues like wages.
“Throughout the course of the day yesterday, we reached a conceptual agreement relating to class sizes, reflected in the graphic attached below,” the Beverly School Committee Chair Rachael Abell said Sunday morning. “However, we still remain far apart on compensation and other items with significant monetary implications for Beverly taxpayers.”
Marblehead educators said Sunday night they’re looking to make their wages competitive and keep teachers for higher wages in nearby districts.
“Here’s the problem with what the school committee is offering, and even if we split the difference, Marblehead at the end of those four years would still be lower compared to 16 communities on the North Shore than we are today,” said MEA co-president Jonathan Heller Sunday night. “How do you dig out of a hole that’s even deeper four years from now? You don’t. It is a serious problem.”
