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Beverly, Gloucester teachers go on strike
Marblehead educators threaten to strike on Tuesday if no agreement is reached over the weekend.
Teachers in two North Shore communities are on strike on Friday following stalled contract negotiations – leaving thousands of students out of school.
On Thursday afternoon, members of the Beverly Teachers Association and the Union of Gloucester Educators voted to authorize strikes.
At press conferences held later in the day, the unions of both communities said they are seeking paid parental leave and competitive wages for teachers and paraprofessionals.
On Friday, Marblehead teachers also voted to go on strike next Tuesday if an agreement couldn’t be reached over the long weekend. By Saturday, educators issued a statement where they announced their disappointment with the school committee for rejecting all proposals.
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“Educators have been fighting for safe and fully staffed schools, paid parental leave, competitive wages, and respect,” said Rachel Rex, co-president of the Union of Gloucester Educators, in a statement. “In all our time at the table, the School Committee has done nothing but stall and reject our proposals. This leaves educators feeling exploited, ignored, and frustrated.”
The Union of Gloucester Educators, representing over 400 teachers, paraprofessionals, service providers, and other education support professionals, voted 98% in favor of the strike.
The union held a press conference Saturday night to update the public on the strike, according to a statement.
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According to CBS Boston, negotiations between the school committee and the union are at a standstill as of Saturday night.
“Tonight, we are still on strike,” Co-President of the Gloucester Teachers Association Rachel Salvorex told CBS Boston. “We were told that the school committee does not want to bargain throughout the night or tomorrow morning to get this deal signed.”
Gloucester teachers have worked 68 days without a contract, and paraprofessionals 496 days without one.
One paraprofessional, Margaret Rudolph, says she has worked for 18 years and only makes $25,000 a year. Since the school committee considers her job part-time, they encourage them to get second jobs to make ends meet – which she and many others do.
The lowest-paid paraprofessionals in Gloucester make a little over $22,000 a year, and the union is asking to raise the low end of the wages to roughly $37,000 by 2027 to 2028.
“It cost me endless missed family time, leaving me mentally and physically exhausted,” Rudolph said in a statement. “We have reached a breaking point and have no other choice but to vote for a strike.”
Educators say they depleted all options at the table to settle a fair contract.
The union said one of its top priorities, paid parental leave, has seen no movement. Unlike private-sector workers, Gloucester teachers are ineligible for Paid Family Medical Leave. The union is proposing 10.5 weeks of parental leave.
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Other requests include adequate class prep time to grade assignments and contact families and clear, consistent communication from administrators.
The union has agreed to bargain around the clock to prevent long-term disruptions.
Gloucester educators were expected on the picket lines at the schools beginning at 8:30 a.m. A rally is scheduled for 1 p.m. at Gloucester City Hall.
Beverly’s teachers ask for similar contracts
During an evening news conference captured on social media, Julia Brotherton, the Beverly educator union’s co-president, said the strike came after over a year of negotiations that have led nowhere.
“None of us wants to do this, but at this point, we have no choice,” Brotherton said. “This is a last resort. We want nothing more than to return to our classrooms as soon as possible.”
“The city has got to show some serious movement,” she added. “We need fair contracts now.”
According to a statement issued by Rachael Abell, chair of the Beverly School Committee, Friday negotiations between the Beverly Teachers Association and the Beverly School Committee began at 2 p.m. Friday.
“The School Committee remains committed to negotiating in good faith with the BTA to reach a contract that is fair to our educators, while respecting the financial limitations of our City budget, read the statement.
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Abell went on to clarify a few issues that have been concerns of the community. Abell said the rest of the staff of the school, including transportation, food service, and custodial staff are still receiving pay during the time the teachers are on strike.
Once the new contract has been negotiated, she said, all educators and paraprofessionals will receive retroactive pay for the time between now and when their last contract expired – Aug. 31.
Abell said the school committee has offered a proposal that would extend the current contract’s eight weeks of parental leave to 12, with two weeks fully funded by the district and up to 10 weeks from accumulated leave and/or the proposed parental leave bank.
“We continue to urge the educators to end their illegal strike and return to work on Tuesday,” said Abell.
In a previous statement, Abell said that officials hope the strikes will come to a “swift conclusion.”
Abell said the school committee filed a petition with the Department of Labor Relations to allow mediation to commence and is continuing to bargain in good faith.
“We want to make it clear that the School Committee does not condone the illegal actions of the BTA,” said Abell. “We will work with state officials to minimize the disruption to our students’ education, and we urge all teachers and staff to return to school.”
Abell said Beverly High School will offer box lunches for students between 10:30 a.m. and 12:30 p.m. Athletics, theater and band rehearsals, and field trips will also continue during this time, as long as a coach or advisor is present.
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Gov. Maura Healey said Friday at an unrelated event at Haymarket Station, “This is really hard on students and really hard on parents.”
She said her office has been in touch with both sides to encourage them to resolve the issue as quickly as possible so students can return to school.
The teachers strikes are the first in the state since Newton teachers went on strike for over two weeks last winter.
Despite being illegal, it has not stopped teachers unions in communities like Brookline, Andover, Haverhill, and Malden from taking to the picket line in recent years. Since the Newton strikes, which racked up hundreds of thousands of dollars in fines, some lawmakers are pushing to legalize future strikes under state law.
Marblehead votes to go on strike Tuesday
“This weekend should be used to prevent a strike. The fact that the superintendent notified parents Friday that schools would be closed Tuesday signaled management’s intention not to bargain with any sense of urgency,” Marblehead Educators Association said in a statement.
The organization alleged the school committee’s bargaining team members did not meet with educators for negotiations and instead elected to send the committee’s lawyer and state moderator.
The statement went on to say that the union’s proposal, which was not made publicly available, on pregnancy loss was met with a callous, disrespectful response and rejected.
“This entire day felt like wasted time,” read another part of the statement.
Educators announced in a statement that they’d be standing out at the Glover School and Old Town Hall from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Sunday.
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On Friday, the Marblehead Education Association announced plans to go on strike Tuesday “if the Marblehead School Committee fails to negotiate a contract for all five bargaining units by Monday night.”
The union’s contract with the Marblehead School Committee expired two months ago, and the union has been negotiating with school committee members and the town manager since last year.
“Our schools are in crisis, and the educators of Marblehead have collectively said, ‘Enough is enough,’” said MEA President Jonathan Heller in a statement. “After seven months of negotiations, we are no closer to a solution, and the School Committee has failed to recognize the urgency of the situation. Our schools need fair wages, safe working conditions, and adequate resources to meet the needs of our students. Because of their refusal to act, we must take action to protect the future of our community.”
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