In September after the MTA’s all-presidents meeting, representatives from Brookline, Dedham, Belmont, and Tewksbury led a workshop on preparing for a strike.Īnd recently members from Haverhill, Malden, Belmont, Brookline, and Tewksbury were invited to a general meeting of the union in Worcester, where they’re gearing up for their contract campaign, to talk about how they built their contract campaigns and got themselves strike-ready. Those in Belmont were strike-ready this year before they settled a winning contract. Educators in Dedham struck and won in 2019.
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“The coalition is a place where we are teaching each other not to take concessions,” said Matt Bach, president of the Andover Education Association, “to raise the bar for our demands, and to be ready to use the full force of our collective power to win.”īeyond the Merrimack Valley coalition, educators in Brookline, just south of Boston, won an illegal strike in May. The coalition includes unions from Tewksbury (where educators won a contract earlier this year just before taking a strike vote), Andover (where educators in a 2020 job action refused to enter their classrooms and instead worked remotely outside of the school buildings), and some American Federation of Teachers locals (MTA chapters are locals of the National Education Association, NEA). The unions, both chapters of the Massachusetts Teachers Association (MTA), built their courage through an informal coalition of unions and community members in the Merrimack Valley. They also won a contractual commitment that the district and the union will work to secure housing for students and their families-including demanding that the city ban evictions during the school year. In Malden, the strikers won a $7,000 raise in base pay for paraprofessionals and 12 weeks of parental leave for all members. The district fought for language that would have allowed it to retaliate against strikers, but the members won contract clauses securing no retaliation. School safety, which was a critical issue for teachers and a sticking point in negotiations, will get a task force to develop protocols to report and respond to violence or threats. It also sets terms for HEA and the district to develop practices to hire a more diverse staff. The three-year agreement in Haverhill raises salaries 3 to 4 percent each year. This time they said, “No more.” NOT ALONE Over the last 20 years, Haverhill Education Association members had accepted seven years of 0 percent wage increases, falling further and further behind their counterparts in other districts. Yet in the spring, when the city received funds from the American Rescue Plan Act-funds designated for schools and educators-Haverhill’s mayor took those funds for the city instead, and cut its contribution to the school budget by $600,000. Teacher salaries in Haverhill are $10,000 less than the Massachusetts average.Īs students returned to school from the pandemic lockdown last year, there were fewer teachers, larger classes, and a plethora of students who were anxious, confused, and struggling to manage their emotions after the disruptions of the pandemic. Haverhill and Malden, north of Boston, are among the state’s poorer cities they’ve been sorely underfunding their schools for decades. “What settled the contract,” said Deb McCarthy, vice president of the Massachusetts Teachers Association, “was the members outside of city hall.” $10,000 BEHIND On the last night of the strike, hundreds of striking teachers, along with students, parents, and educators from nearby districts, stood outside city hall chanting “Do your job” and “Settle this now.” The school committee in Haverhill had dragged its feet and walked away from the table again and again. Malden educators voted to strike just a few hours later.Īfter four days out, Haverhill educators won their demands for school safety and commitment for diverse hiring those in Malden settled their contract with a one-day strike. Two more illegal strikes have hit Massachusetts! On October 14, members of the Haverhill Educators Association voted to strike.
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