Teachers in Beverly, Gloucester go on strike, schools closed Friday
BEVERLY - Teachers in Beverly and Gloucester, Massachusetts have voted to go on strike. Schools in both North Shore cities will be closed on Friday.
According to the Beverly Teachers Association, they have been working to reach a deal on a new contract for almost a year.
"Beverly schools are in crisis"
"None of us wants to do this, but at this point we have no choice," said Julia Brotherton, co-president of the BTA at a press conference Thursday evening. "Beverly schools are in crisis. Critical paraprofessional positions regularly go unfilled because the city pays only poverty wages."
Brotherton said 99% of the membership voted to go on strike.
Rachael Abell, Chair of the Beverly School Committee, said a petition was filed with the Department of Labor Relations earlier this week in an attempt to prevent the strike.
"We know this decision by the BTA to take this illegal action unfairly disrupts the education of our students," Abell said. "The School Committee bargaining team is continuing to negotiate in good faith to reach contracts that are fair to all educators and staff and we urge the union bargaining team to work with the mediator and us to reach agreement."
Schools in Beverly will be closed through the duration of the strike. Athletics, theater and band rehearsals, and field trips will continue.
"We are prepared to bargain around the clock all weekend to solve this, but the city has got to show some serious movement," Brotherton said. "We need fair contracts now."
Strike in Gloucester
In Gloucester, 98% of educators voted to go on strike, according to the Union of Gloucester Educators.
"Despite teachers working 68 days without a contract and paraprofessionals enduring 496 days without one, the School Committee has stalled on basic, commonsense proposals put forward by UGE," the union said in a statement.
In a letter to Gloucester Public School families, Superintendent Ben Lummis said he was "terribly sorry" to announce schools will be closed on Friday.
"The unions' actions mean they have forced our public schools to shut down until they are willing to reach an agreement with the School Committee," Lummis said in the letter.
A decision about athletics and extracurricular activities will be announced on Friday.
Schools were already scheduled to be closed in both communities on Monday Nov. 11 for the Veterans Day holiday.
Teacher strikes illegal in Massachusetts
Teacher strikes are illegal in Massachusetts and unions could face fines.
The money would go to the Massachusetts Department of Labor Relations. A city or town can also charge the union for what it spends on things like police details and overtime.
