Teachers in 3 Massachusetts communities continue strike over pay, paid parental leave

Teachers in three Massachusetts communities fighting for new contracts pushed forward with their demands Monday while schools were closed for the Veterans Day holiday.

Educators from Gloucester, Marblehead and Beverly participated in a rally Monday afternoon in Gloucester. Hundreds of teachers waved signs and listened to speeches.

Public schools in the three communities will be closed on Tuesday as teachers hit the picket line over pay, paid parental leave and other issues.

Even with classes and extracurriculars canceled, school officials in Gloucester are still offering breakfast and lunch for students. In Beverly, the district is offering grab-and-go box lunches for students at Beverly High School.

In Gloucester, the union in the 2,800-student district is asking for eight weeks of fully paid parental leave, two weeks at 75% and two weeks at 50%. It also wants significant pay increases for paraprofessionals, safer conditions for students and more prep time for elementary school teachers.

Gloucester Mayor Greg Verga said Monday evening that the city has put forward what he described as realistic proposals. He faulted the union for not putting a counter wage proposal on the table, saying the current proposal would require a tax hike of $400 per year for average taxpayers or cuts to other services.

“It is critical that we work together to find common ground but unfortunately we have not seen the progress we need," he said.

Union officials said they want to get minor issues dealt with and out of the way before moving to more major issues like salaries in Gloucester.

Beverly school officials said they're prepared to continue negotiations.

The Beverly Teachers Association in a statement said last week that they were pushing for smaller class sizes in the 4,500-student district, 12 weeks of paid parental leave and a “living wage” for paraprofessionals or teacher assistants whose starting salary is $20,000.

Julia Brotherton, co-president of the Beverly Teachers Association, faulted the school committee in a written statement for refusing to agree with everything from extended lunch and recess for students to letting educators use their earned sick time to take care of ill and dying family members.

Rachael Abell, the chair of the Beverly School Committee, criticized the strike for “unfairly” disrupting the education of students.

“We call on the BTA to end their illegal strike and join us in working with the mediator to negotiate in good faith," Abell said last week.

Strikes by teachers are rare in Massachusetts, partly because state law bans public sector employees from striking. In January, Newton teachers racked up hundreds of thousands of dollars in fines for an 11-day strike. The two sides agreed to a cost-of-living increase of about 13% over four years for teachers, pay hikes for classroom aides and 40 days of fully paid family leave.

The Newton strike was the sixth teachers strike in the state since 2022.

With reporting by The Associated Press' Steve LeBlanc