Fall River
FREA won ‘damn good deal’ but paid high price
A contentious 16-day strike led to the arrest of 13 Fall River Educators Association members and hefty fines for the local in 1978, but in the end many of the educators’ contract demands were met, according to MTA Today. “Teachers won a damn good deal,” a spokesman for the FREA said.
The strike vote was taken after 11 months of negotiations failed to lead to a new contract. The main sticking point was salaries. The local president said the School Committee was offering a zero percent raise for 1978 and “maybe something” in 1979-80, despite the city receiving additional state aid thanks to an MTA-led funding campaign.
Other issues included increasing the school day at the high school, reduction-in-force language and denying teachers the right to leave their buildings during non-teaching hours. The arrested FREA members did not spend time in jail.
According to MTA Today, during the entire work stoppage the number of teachers crossing the lines never exceeded 14 out of the local’s 850 members. School officials tried to keep the schools open by relying on administrators, parents and, in some cases, young students.
“A spokesman for FREA noted that on the second day of the strike a fifth-grader was placed in charge of a kindergarten class, and parents were called upon to perform what amounted to babysitting roles in the classroom,” MTA Today reported.
A settlement was reached on Oct. 4 after the parties had been at the table for 34 of the previous 48 hours. Fines of $260,000 were assessed, and teachers lost pay due to the strike.
David Freedman, owner of the Gangplank Restaurant in Fall River … fed every one of the 850 striking teachers who came by during the 16-day unpaid period.
