Newton teachers readying for potential strike

Educators in Newton appear ready to go on strike this week following more than a year of unsuccessful negotiations between city officials and the Newton Teachers Association. 

The NTA scheduled an all-members meeting Thursday and is set to announce “next steps for negotiations” at a press conference outside City Hall Thursday evening. On Tuesday, the Newton School Committee filed paperwork with the state indicating that they expected a strike vote to occur Thursday. 

In a message to the Newton community, the school committee said it is its “statutory obligation” to submit a petition for a strike investigation with the Commonwealth Employment Relations Board if it becomes aware of the possibility of an illegal strike. State law prohibits public employees and public employee organizations from striking, but this has not stopped educators in many cities and towns from manning the picket line. Teachers in Brookline, Andover, Haverhill, and Malden all chose to strike in recent years alone. 

If the NTA approves a strike on Thursday, it would begin on Friday, according to a message from Mayor Ruthanne Fuller.

“A strike interrupting another school year will be terrible for Newton’s students and parents/caregivers and will not help us settle the contract,” Fuller said in the message. 

Both sides blamed the other for the lack of successful negotiations in public messages this week. 

“Mediation meetings were proposed every day last week and this week, but the NTA did not agree to attend,” Superintendent Anna Nolin said in a message to the school community Tuesday. 

In an open letter, NTA President Mike Zilles said the school committee has not meaningfully adjusted its financial offer for 15 months. 

“Please don’t go to community leaders and say–‘Hey, we offered to meet this week.’ We’ve been meeting with you for over a year now and nothing has changed on that front. And for all your attestations to the contrary, your bargaining teams strategy seems to be to bargain to impasse and impose its last best offer. Your team remains rigidly determined to win a cheap contract no matter what the long term costs of this are to the district,” Zilles wrote in the letter, addressed to school officials. 

Zilles’ letter includes specifics of the negotiation from the NTA’s perspective and salary figures for Newton compared to other communities. The district’s latest offer is also publicly available online. 

In her message, Fuller said that she expects the Commonwealth Employment Relations Board to conduct an investigation soon. The NTA could be ordered to cease any strike activity. If the union does not comply, the board could seek an injunction in Massachusetts Superior Court to stop the union from striking. The court would then be able to impose fines on the NTA if it does not comply with a court order. 

As negotiations have broken down, supporters of the teachers have already begun demonstrate. Newton parents gathered outside City Hall Wednesday in frigid temperatures to show their support for the union. 

If a strike does occur, administrators and school committee members will engage in “intensive sessions” each day with the goal of ending it as soon as possible, according to Nolin. Families will receive a message by 7:30 p.m. each night about whether or not classes will be in session the following day. 

A strike would force all schools in the district to close, and school-related events and activities would be canceled, according to Nolin. This would include athletic competitions. The missed days would be made up at the end of the school year. The district would still offer “grab and go” meals in a similar fashion to what happened during the peak of the pandemic. Meals would include three days of breakfast and lunch. 

Outside groups who have rented school buildings would still be able to hold their events and activities, and events on school field space operated by the city’s Parks and Recreation Department and other organizations would continue. Students who attend out-of-district schools would not have their transportation impacted. 

The NTA has focused much of its animus on Fuller. The district is looking for a “cheap contract” from the NTA because Fuller has “chronically underfunded the schools,” Zilles wrote. 

“We are deeply disturbed that the mayor is insisting that schools are sufficiently funded. While other districts have recognized the growing needs of students and increased their allocations to public schools, Mayor Fuller continues to underfund our schools in Newton. In spite of annual budget surpluses, Mayor Fuller has cut funding for schools year after year,” the NTA said in a statement. “Mayor Fuller is choosing to withhold existing taxpayer money from schools.”

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