Beverly Teachers Strike: Teachers Make Plea To City Council, Mayor Cahill

BEVERLY, MA — Members of the striking Beverly Teachers Association and their supporters took to the microphone at a public hearing on electric bus purchases during Tuesday night's City Council meeting to make their plea for councilor support in their fight for a new collective bargaining agreement.

The meeting came after the second day of the strike — which stretched into a third day on Wednesday — after BTA members voted to walk out of the classrooms last Thursday two months after the expiration of their last deal.

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The supporters — most wearing red BTA shirts — briefly delayed the public hearing with chants of "Fund our schools!" and "What's outrageous? Poverty wages!" as Mayor Michael Cahill stood at the microphone before City Council President Julie Flowers asked for a brief recess and repeated her request that they allow the public hearing to begin so they could speak.

A succession of BTA supporters then stated their case for what they feel should be in the new contract, with multiple speakers asking the City Council for assistance in the negotiations, while also making enough references to the state and federal grant-funded electric buses — which were generally praised — to acquiesce to President Flowers' request that the public comment center around the buses during the hearing.

Beverly Teachers Association bargaining team members Joanna Seeber and Stephanie Andrews blasted the School Committee and Mayor Cahill on the steps of City Hall shortly before the meeting for what they called a "lack of urgency" during a day of negotiations in which they said they were presented the same previously rejected proposals.

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"The sticking point is management and their lack of urgency and their lack of creative solutions to get these schools open," said Andrews, while also listing paid parental leave, "poverty" paraprofessional wages, and "safe schools for our children" as other bargaining issues.

The City Council stand came on the eve of what was expected to be the beginning of escalating fines for the BTA for violating the state law prohibiting public sector strikes.

"We are doing our part to get fair contracts finalized," School Committee Chair Rachael Abell said in her last update to the community on Monday night. "The BTA needs to do their part now by ending this illegal strike, working with us to reach an agreement and letting our students get back to school."

Abell said on Monday the sides remained about $14.4 million apart on contract proposals.

Mayor Cahill did not address the teachers and supporters at Tuesday's City Council meeting.

The Council did approve the purchase of the eight electric buses at $3.5 million by an 8-1 vote with most of that price tag being covered by the grants and tax credits, according to the Mayor's office.

"The thought that we can buy eight school buses for $120,000 is amazing," Cahill said. "These buses will serve our students for years to come."

(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.)