North Shore teachers strikes drag on into Wednesday

Teachers in Gloucester, Beverly and Marblehead remained locked in paralyzingly slow progress in their negotiations Tuesday, with strikes in each community now dragging on into Wednesday.

Though Marblehead Public School announced the cancellation of class again just after 6 p.m., both Beverly and Gloucester schools delayed their notifications until after 8 p.m. as negotiations teetered closer to a deal.

Beverly and Gloucester have been on strike since Friday, Nov. 8, and the Marblehead Education Association followed Tuesday, Nov. 12.

The Gloucester superintendent told staff and families to be ready to return to work on Wednesday in a Monday announcement, but walked back the statement by midday Tuesday. The school head said the negotiators were poised to work into the night, but schools had to be cancelled due to the late hour after 8 p.m.

“The School Committee gave their most recent increased salary proposal to the union leadership at 10 p.m. last night,” wrote Gloucester Superintendent Ben Lummis in the early afternoon. “However, the unions have just given the School Committee a salary proposal at 7:50 p.m. tonight. Such a late proposal is too late for the two sides to make an agreement tonight and still open school tomorrow.”

Teachers, along with other public sector employees, are prohibited from striking under Massachusetts state law. All three teachers unions have been fined hundreds of thousands of dollars, which will continue to increase each day they remain on strike, under court orders that went into effect last week.

“There is no doubt in our minds that our respective employers moved slowly on settling agreements allowing enough time to lapse to allow court ordered fines to kick in,” said Ruth Furlong of the Beverly Teachers Association, at a rally on the steps of the State House on Tuesday. “Nowhere in the process of bargaining does management face consequences for not bargaining in good faith. Our unions are broken financially, but our will and our spirit are far from broken.”

Educators from the North Shore communities delivered a message to Gov. Maura Healey and lawmakers at the State House on Tuesday, calling for her support as negotiations drag on.

“My focus right now is on getting students back in the classroom,” Healey said in a statement in response to the unions’ action Tuesday. “It is unacceptable that school has been closed for more than a week in Marblehead, Gloucester and Beverly. I’m urging both parties to reach an agreement as soon as possible for the good of our kids, families, educators and staff.”

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Still educators and school committee members maintained Tuesday that they were making “progress” towards a deal. Teachers have made big efforts to raise paraprofessionals’, among other educators’, wages significantly and gain paid family leave throughout the contract negotiations, as school committee members have cited budget constraints.

After their negotiations wrapped up around 7:30 p.m. Tuesday night, a BTA leader said the two sides “aren’t far apart.”

“We have agreement on many, many, many issues,” said Julia Brotherton, co-president of the BTA.  “It is largely the wages and the parental leave that are they’re still holding us up. But again, we have lots of plans and hopes for movement on that as well.”

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