School canceled tomorrow in 3 North Shore communities amid ongoing teacher strikes

NORTH SHORE — School is canceled in three North Shore communities on Tuesday as the illegal teacher strike continues.

“Enough is enough, we have given proposals all weekend long that could get us back into school tomorrow,” said Rachel Salvo Rex, co-president of the Union of Gloucester Educators. “Settle our contracts now!”

The teachers’ unions in Gloucester, Marblehead, and Beverly all held a joint news conference Monday night after failing to reach a deal on their contracts.

All three unions are pushing for similar benefits and better wages, but they say the school committees aren’t bargaining in good faith.

“We are at a breaking point, we need our elected leaders to act with urgency to solve this crisis before it’s too late,” said Rex. “We know other school committees are colluding with their high-priced attorneys to drag these negotiations out. Let me be crystal clear, there is no law firm in the world that can break the resolve of this group of educators.”

“We are committed to mediating long into the night, but our teachers should be in the school during the day with their students,” said Kathleen Clancy, chair of the Gloucester School Committee.

The school committees in these communities say they’re upset they must cancel school on Tuesday while teachers continue this strike.

In Gloucester, the mayor says the teachers’ union refuses to offer a counter-wage proposal.

“Not only is this counter-productive to the negotiation process, but it severely limits our ability to make any form of progress toward finding a solution,” said Mayor Greg Verga of Gloucester.

Marblehead and Gloucester city leaders say if they accepted the unions’ proposals, they would have to raise property taxes or cut budgets for other services like police and fire.

District leaders say they would have to lay off dozens of teachers with the salaries teachers are demanding.

But hundreds of teachers on the North Shore say they’ll continue to fight together for better contracts, which would improve the education of their students.

“These are the same problems that are facing every single district, and we are standing together united because we are trying to come to the table with solutions to solve these problems,” said Jonathan Heller, co-president of the Marblehead Education Association.

Since teacher strikes are illegal in Massachusetts, these unions may start to face some serious fines as this issue now heads to court.

This is a developing story. Check back for updates as more information becomes available.

Download the FREE Boston 25 News app for breaking news alerts.

Follow Boston 25 News on Facebook and Twitter. | Watch Boston 25 News NOW

©2024 Cox Media Group