Marblehead Teachers Poised To Act As Beverly, Gloucester Unions Strike
MARBLEHEAD, MA — Marblehead teachers and school staff could be on the verge of joining those in Beverly and Gloucester in declaring a strike with the Marblehead Education Association planning a news conference following what it called an “emergency meeting” Friday afternoon.
Beverly and Gloucester teachers both voted to strike on Thursday effective on Friday and were on out on the picket lines Friday morning. If Marblehead teachers follow suit, they would likely close the classrooms on Tuesday following Monday’s Veterans Day holiday — giving the sides the weekend to negotiate a detour to the work action.
“The MEA has been clear in its bargaining goals: fair wages for all educators; access to modern paid family leave; safe learning and working conditions for students and staff; and proper recess and lunch breaks for elementary students,” the MEA said in a statement Friday morning. “The School Committee bargaining team has not been transparent in its dealings with the union or in its communications to the town.
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“We need a path forward to settle a fair contract now.”
The Marblehead School Committee is seeking an impasse declaration and state mediation help from the Massachusetts Department of Labor Relations as it said the district and MEA remain $5 million apart in talks on teacher and school staff contracts.
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School Committee Bargaining Sub-committee representative Sarah Fox said the union rejected that request at Monday night’s bargaining session but that the Committee will proceed with filing the request with the DLR “to help work towards settling a new contract that meets the needs of the union and takes into account the fiscal reality of our town.”
The MEA said in a statement Monday night that the latest bargaining session produced “little progress to show” for months of negotiations and blamed the School Committee’s unwillingness to seek the funding necessary to present educators and staff with a fair contract for the stalemate.
School Committee member Sarah Fox’s statement on Monday night said that the current MEA proposal would necessitate $9.7 million in new spending over the next four years, with the school budget only expected to have access to $1 million in new spending in each of those four years.
She said the increased spending would require a property tax override with a 15 percent cut in all staff and services at stake if that override does not pass.
Attempts to pass a property tax general override failed a townwide vote in both 2022 and 2023.
(Scott Souza is a Patch field editor covering Beverly, Danvers, Marblehead, Peabody, Salem and Swampscott. He can be reached at [email protected]. X/Twitter: @Scott_Souza.)
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