MARBLEHEAD, MA — The Marblehead School Committee called the Marblehead Education Association’s latest contract proposal “unaffordable” on Monday — requiring the need for a $7.5 million tax override that would trigger 75 position layoffs if if doesn’t pass a townwide vote — as teachers prepared to strike effective Tuesday morning after working for more than two months without a contract.
The sides engaged in state-mandated mediation on Monday after the MEA voted to authorize a strike on Friday. Union members were in Gloucester at a joint rally with Beverly and Gloucester teachers — who also voted to strike late last week — while the School Committee issued a statement categorizing the work actions as a conspiracy with the Massachusetts Teachers Association to engage in an “illegal strike.”
“We want a fair, affordable and sustainable contract for our teachers and our town and we are working to get this done,” the School Committee said in a statement released through a public relations firm on Monday before school was officially canceled for Tuesday.
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Public sector union strikes are against the law in Massachusetts with all three unions facing escalating fines and other penalties the longer the work stoppage persists.
“All three unions seek contracts that improve school safety and services for students; improve wages, especially for grossly underpaid paraprofessionals, and provide paid family leave, as public school educators are exempt from the state law ensuring private sector workers receive paid family leave,” the Beverly, Gloucester and Marblehead teachers unions said in a joint statement on Monday.
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The School Committee said the latest MEA proposal includes a 34 percent increase in costs that “would require a property tax override, which voters have overwhelmingly rejected for nearly two decades.”
A $3 million school general override failed by a 2-to-1 margin in 2022 with a town general override amid what Town Administrator Thatcher Kezer has called a structural deficit failing by about 400 votes in 2023.
“We want to avoid layoffs, so our schools can provide the education and services students and families need and deserve,” the School Committee said.
The School Committee said its proposal keeps current class sizes intact, raises teacher pay 10.5 percent over four years with an additional 2 percent raise for the two-thirds of teachers already at the top of the pay scale.
“Our offer would increase the average teacher salary to more than $100,000 and the top scale salary to $108,954 for 184 working days,” the School Committee said. “Our proposals for the other bargaining units are similarly based on fair, affordable increases.”
The MEA this weekend called the School Committee’s rejection of its proposals on pay and other changes, and lack of urgency in moving toward a resolution, “unconscionable.”
“The kids need to be in school, but we also need to address issues thrusting or schools into crisis,” MEA co-President Jonathan Heller said.
Marblehead Superintendent John Robidoux canceled school on Tuesday when word of the strike vote was announced via social media late Friday afternoon and also canceled all extracurricular events — including drama and theater practices and the high school football team’s organized practices ahead of a potential playoff game this weekend.
Robidoux said on Friday that coaches and supervisors are tied to the collective bargaining agreement, which is not in effect during a strike, and that: “We need to focus solely on getting the teachers back in the classrooms as quickly as possible.”
Heller said on Saturday that practices, games and events should be allowed to continue with the union willing to make coaches and supervisors available for those duties.
“Missed school days can be made up. But the opportunity to compete for a state championship and special performances cannot,” Heller said.
(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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