Beverly Teachers Strike: Mayor Cahill Named To Bargaining Committee

BEVERLY, MA — Beverly Mayor Michael Cahill joined the negotiations subcommittee tasked with ending a teachers' strike before it stretches into a sixth day over three weeks on Monday.

Beverly School Committee Chair Rachael Abell announced the change on Friday — the same day members of the Beverly Teachers Association delivered recall petitions for Cahill, Abell and School Committee member Jeffrey Silva to City Hall and demanded their resignations if they do not "start bargaining in good faith and make a real effort to reopen schools."

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"We believe Mayor Cahill, with his strong experience in city finances and negotiations, will help us bring this mediation to a favorable resolution," said Abell in a community update Friday night. "We hope our colleagues at the BTA will see this move as it is intended — to show the leadership of this city is united and determined to reach a fair settlement, which honors our teachers and
exists within the city's means."

Abell said it was Silva who requested that Cahill replace him on the subcommittee and that she accepted his resignation on Friday morning.

The BTA announced its recall petition ahead of a Friday news conference following what leaders said was an "insulting proposal" put forth to it on Thursday.

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Beverly schools were closed for a fifth straight day on Friday after teachers voted to go on strike last week two months after their previous collective bargaining agreement expired.

An Essex County Superior Court judge this week issued a $50,000 fine to the BTA for being in contempt of the state law making public sector union strikes illegal. The escalating fine is set to increase by $10,000 per day of school that is missed because of the work stoppage.

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The BTA said on Friday it had "put forward many contract proposals" to secure a new deal that includes a "living wage" for paraprofessionals, paid family leave, and a "better environment for students with longer lunch and recess."

BTA leaders said Thursday night they made what they thought were concessions but the response from the School Committee was "regressive" and included retreating from the progress they thought had already been made.

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But Abell on Friday night expressed some optimism about weekend negotiations aimed at opening the classrooms on Monday.

"We have reached conceptual agreements on a number of topics and we are confident that we can make meaningful progress toward moving more items into that column by the end of the day (Saturday)," she said.

(Scott Souza is a Patch field editor covering Beverly, Danvers, Marblehead, Peabody, Salem and Swampscott. He can be reached at Scott.Souza@Patch.com. X/Twitter: @Scott_Souza.)