Marblehead Teachers Strike: Schools Closed For 9th Day On Friday
MARBLEHEAD, MA — The School Committee’s rejection of what the Marblehead Education Association called “a major concession” in its contract offer Wednesday and the threat of legal action aimed at forcing teachers to end their “illegal strike” and return to school was not enough to open the doors to classrooms on Friday.
Superintendent John Robidoux said in a message to the community at about 6:30 p.m. on Thursday that school was canceled on Friday for the ninth straight day.
“The ball is in the School Committee’s court,” MEA negotiators and silent representatives said in a mid-afternoon statement, claiming they had yet to hear from the School Committee on its latest proposals. “As we wait for these counter proposals we continue to engage with the community and advocate for our students and ourselves.
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“They could agree to these contracts right now and we would be back in school (on Friday).”
The union representatives asked families and students to contact the School Committee and demand a settlement “immediately.”
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The Marblehead School Committee said on Wednesday night that it had filed a petition with the Massachusetts Department of Labor Relations for a “strike investigation” against four members of the (Marblehead Education Association) in an effort to “issue orders for them to call off the strike and return to work.”
The MEA on Wednesday detailed what it called a “major concession” in its contract demands that would lower cost-of-living pay increases to 16 percent over four years and gradually increase paid
parental leave — public school teachers are exempt from the state law guaranteeing family leave — as a means to bridge the $5 million gap that the School Committee had said separates the union and district proposals.
Yet while the Marblehead School Committee said Wednesday night that the concessions are “a step in the right direction,” it is “still unaffordable and unsustainable,” and only reduces the proposal by $857,000.
“It would require a property tax override that would add hundreds of dollars to the average property tax bill,” the Marblehead School Committee said. “This was not a ‘grand gesture’ as described by the Union.”
The MEA said it was planning a news conference for later Thursday night.
(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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