Swampscott Teachers Protest Contract With 'Work To Rule' Action

SWAMPSCOTT, MA — Teachers in Swampscott undertook a 'work to rule' action Monday to protest an ongoing dispute with administrators over the union's next three-year contract. Under a work to rule, teachers only work their contracted hours, arriving and leaving school at the same time as students. That means teachers are unavailable for after school meetings with parents and students, and are not working on lesson plans or grading outside of school hours.

"We were unable to meet with students before and after school, unable to continue working on lesson plans, and unable to grade assessments," the Swampscott Education Association said in social media posts. "While we are paid for our work during the school day, our work doesn’t end when the bell rings."

Already this month, both sides have sent out fliers critical of the other, and the two sides cannot even agree on how much an across-the-board, three percent cost-of-living increase the Swampscott Education Association is asking for would cost taxpayers.

Swampscott Public schools said the 3 percent raise would cost the district $3.1 million over the three-year contract in the flier it released earlier this month; in its response to that flier a week later, the union said the cost was closer to $2 million.

Since negotiations began in April, the union has rejected every proposal from the school system because it did not include the 3 percent raise. The school district says more than half of its teachers already earn between $75,000 and $100,000 per year, and another third earn between $50,000 and $75,000. One-in-five Swampscott teachers earn more than $100,000 er year.