Beverly
Beverly educators win gains despite resistance from the district
This massive victory is a testament to the strength of our educators and their unwavering dedication to our students.
A 12-day strike by Beverly teachers and paraprofessionals in 2024 was the longest one in Massachusetts in 44 years. It was second strike for the Beverly Teachers Association, which went on strike for five days in 1993.
Educators in Gloucester and Marblehead also held strikes that overlapped with the BTA action. All three centered around similar issues: pay, especially for paraprofessionals, parental leave and safety concerns.
Frustration was high as BTA members accused the School Committee of dragging its feet in negotiations. Eventually, the district refused to bargain at all. In an unprecedented ruling, the Commonwealth Employment Relations Board determined that the district was entitled to violate the state’s legal requirement to bargain in good faith because the employees had violated the law by striking.
Before that ruling could be challenged, the union and School Committee reached a settlement that met many, though not all, of the BTA’s goals. Among the highlights: an almost $15,000 increase — more than 65 percent — for paraprofessionals by the end of the contract, a 16 percent raise for teachers at the top step, six weeks of paid parental leave, extra support for dysregulated students and more support for special education teachers.
The BTA was hit with a heavy $810,000 fine, though in the return-to-work agreement the two sides agreed to ask that the fine be reduced, with the money going to the local nonprofit Beverly Bootstraps Community Services.
Looking back at the 56 strikes among MTA locals from 1969 through the North Shore actions, the recent actions have stood out for their length as measured by workdays missed. However, strikes in the early days of collective bargaining also were sometimes long. The three MTA locals whose strikes exceeded Beverly’s 2024 action were New Bedford in 1975 (23 days); Fall River in 1978 (16 days); and Springfield in 1980 (14 days).
The first strike among MTA locals was in New Bedford in 1969, though the first educator strike in the state was in Lawrence, an AFT-Massachusetts affiliate, in 1966.
What this strike proved is that educators, students and families run our schools, not politicians and bureaucrats. Us, the teachers, the paraprofessionals, the counselors, the working parents, the student activists, we keep these schools running and this community will lead the change that is needed here in Beverly.
