Worcester teacher union negotiations reach impasse
Photo | Timothy Doyle
Worcester City Hall
The Worcester School Committee filed a petition on Friday for the appointment of a mediator from the Massachusetts Department of Labor Relations to help reach a contract settlement between the school committee and the teachers’ union for the Worcester Public Schools, the Educational Association of Worcester.
EAW has been without a contract since the previous one expired in August, and teachers have been working without one since Sept. 1. On April 28, the union announced it will take the vote of no confidence on Friday, if a contract was not signed as a way to show its members do not feel the school committee is working toward a fair and new contract. This is an election year for school committee members.
Melissa Verdier, president of the EAW, said the union does not have a comment now on the committee’s request for a mediator. Verdier said she will address this issue at a 6:30 p.m. press conference Friday at Worcester City Hall.
The Worcester School Committee and WPS conducted more than 20 bargaining sessions with EAW since January 2022, according to the school committee’s press release on Friday. The decision to bring in mediation was made after the latest counter offer was rejected by the EAW without a counter proposal on Tuesday, WPS Chief Communications Officer Dan O’Brien told WBJ in an email.
“The Worcester School Committee has repeatedly proposed sizable wage increases for our dedicated teachers and continuously engages in good-faith bargaining,” Worcester Mayor Joe Petty said in Friday’s release. “We are requesting a state-appointed mediator so that our hard-working educators do not wait any longer for the fair and competitive compensation package they truly deserve.”
The offer the district made on Tuesday included wage increases and longevity benefits, the Mayor’s office said in Friday’s press release. Teachers’ wages would increase between 15% and 19.4% for all teachers, including extra compensation for educators with more than 10 years of experience. It included an increase in hourly pay from $37 to $60 an hour for after-school and summer instructional work and from $37 to $40 per hour for non-instructional work like professional development. The across-the-board increases would take place over four years – a 4% raise for year one, 4% for year two, 3% for year three, and 4% for year four.
The City claimed EAW has not moved forward with a contract agreement for paraeducators even though the major wage terms of that deal have been established since January. The district proposed an entry-level salary increase of up to $14,000 annually with one-time payments of up to $1,500 each for all paraeducators and a bump in hourly pay from $17.50 to $25 an hour for summer work. It also included new stipends for additional work during school hours.
The City has requested that teachers work an additional two days for professional development, meaning an increase from 183 days to 185.
The EAW has 3,100 members and five bargaining units: teachers and Group B administrators, education support professionals, bus drivers, parent liaisons, and English-as-a-second-language tutors.
WBJ Web Partners
Most Recent
Most Recent
0 Comments