Scrapped Marblehead Teacher Bargaining Session Adds Acrimony To Talks

MARBLEHEAD, MA — An apparent scheduling error that postponed Monday's negotiating session between the Marblehead Education Association and the School Committee Bargaining Sub-Committee on a new collective bargaining agreement is only adding more acrimony to the troubled contract talks.

The MEA said about 200 supporters showed up to support the MEA at Monday's meeting, which was postponed because of what the union said it was told was an "error." The MEA said in a statement late Monday that an emergency meeting of its own membership is planned ahead of the next scheduled talks on Sept. 23.

"These bad-faith tactics along with the School Committee's incomprehensible resistance to any common-sense proposals speaks volumes as to how committed it is to the schools our community deserves," said MEA Co-President Jonathan Heller. "We are trying to address the ongoing safety concerns at every school and the social-emotional needs of our youngest learners, as well as the mass exodus of school staff.

"The School Committee's strategy is to drag this out and exhaust our membership, then file for mediation as they did with our custodians. This is a game to them."

Marblehead teachers, paraprofessionals and support staff, and custodians are now in their third week of school since the previous agreement expired.

"Our members are dedicated professionals who deserve stability and respect," said Dana Trudeau, a fifth grade Math and Science Teacher at Village School. "Working under an expired contract not only affects their morale but also disrupts the educational environment for our students."

Wages and the teachers' binding role in a proposed School Safety Joint Committee are two of the bigger sticking points in the talks.

School Committee member Sarah Fox issued a statement on behalf of the Bargaining Sub-Committee following the last negotiating session on Sept. 10, saying that the union's demands on wages are not feasible given what the School Committee called "the fiscal reality of the town of Marblehead" and that the MEA's proposal for the School Safety Committee includes provisions that the School Committee said "may likely violate student privacy."

"The Sub-Committee provided a revised proposal for the establishment of a School Safety Committee," the School Committee said. "The Sub-Committee's proposal included equal membership representation from school administration and all staff areas."

On wages, the School Committee said that the union's latest proposal amounts to a 40 percent increase in pay over three years for many teachers and staff.

"The Marblehead School Committee deeply values all of its employees, students and community and will continue to commit the time necessary to reach a fair contract and is committed to balancing that with the fiscal reality of the town of Marblehead," the Bargaining Sub-Committee
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.)