Negotiations Between Medford School Committee, Teachers Union Delayed

MEDFORD, MA — A month after the Medford School Committee decided that negotiations with the Medford Teachers Association (MTA) had reached an impasse, negotiations between the two parties are still delayed.

The School Committee, which has requested a mediator for the contract negotiation,said in a statement that they unanimously decided to request that the Massachusetts Department of Labor Relations assign a mediator to "help the parties reach an amicable resolution."

"As the new school year gets underway, many employees of the Medford Public Schools (MPS) are working under expired employment agreements,” the School Committee said. "As a result, many hard working support staff, including paraprofessionals, are having pay increases necessarily delayed due to the uncertain financial implications of the district’s ongoing negotiations with the Medford Teachers Association."

"After 17 bargaining sessions over the last 10 months, and the increasing antagonism exhibited by the MTA’s bargaining team, it is clear that a new perspective is necessary to resolve the current contractual stalemate,” they added.

In response to the School Committee’s statement, the MTA said it was “extremely disappointed" by the decision, as no elected member of the School Committee has attended a negotiation session to date.

Prior to the impasse, MPS made a proposal of a 7.25 percent base compensation over three years, with additional grant-funded non-base compensation resulting in each teacher receiving an approximate 9.2 percent pay increase during the proposed three-year contract.

While a significant improvement to the district’s initial offer of a 3.75 percent increase, the MTA said it is not enough due to recent inflation. Union members also said the supposed 9.2 percent pay increase is misleading because it is attached to one-time federally funded bonuses that do not increase base pay or count towards retirement.

Negotiations have also included requests for updated policies and contract language changes, including establishing specific student-to-teacher ratios for classes of newcomers and modernizing the family leave policy.

Another priority was to decrease class sizes for English Learner/newcomer classes and to provide needed resources and personnel to special education and inclusion classes, two issues that were progressing prior to the impasse.

"The school committee has shown a complete lack of respect for Medford educators by never attending a negotiating meeting, and yet they act as if they have the knowledge to declare an impasse,” MTA educators said.

In a Sept. 27 update, the MTA urged the school committee to come back to the table to negotiate, noting that mediation has historically been a “slow and nonbinding process that has failed in several districts in the state.”

"As both the Medford Public Schools and the Medford Teachers Association’s negotiation teams have been engaged in good faith bargaining with consistent movement on the remaining key issues throughout this year, it is only logical to state that continued talks between the two parties will settle the contract long before the Department of Labor’s mediator will,” the MTA said.

"We want to continue the difficult but worthwhile job of bargaining so that our members can focus on their students in one of the most difficult times in this country’s history,” they continued. "We urge the district to return to the table and do the job they were hired to do."