We've seen this before. A local educators union in contract negotiations cannot get the school committee to make meaningful movement at the bargaining table. Educators end up working for months – if not years – under the terms of an expired contract while important issues surrounding working conditions and student learning conditions go unaddressed.
What we haven’t necessarily seen before is the level of hostility that the Newton School Committee and Newton Mayor Ruthanne Fuller have ginned up in their prolonged contract bargaining with the Newton Teachers Association.
"They never agree to a new contract until the last one expires, but eventually we get one done," said NTA President Mike Zilles. "What’s different this time is that they seem to be doubling down on not only trying to settle on a cheap contract, but also winning significant concessions from us."
One veteran educator speaking at a school committee meeting told the board that it was "poisoning" the school environment with misinformation and tactics meant to pit families against educators.
"Your attack on teachers is unprecedented, very public and shameful," NTA member Fran Rametta told the school committee at its Sept. 11 meeting.
The NTA and school committee have been bargaining for one year, with little agreement over appropriate wages, especially for paraprofessionals. The NTA is also trying to win additional staff to support student social and emotional wellness, while the school committee wants to increase educator responsibilities for no additional pay and increase health care costs for educators.
The pace of bargaining has slowed as the district moved to bring in a state mediator.
In response, the NTA has organized a series of ongoing public events to highlight the unwillingness of Mayor Fuller and the school committee – who are guided by an outside attorney – to use available city funds to settle a fair contract.
The NTA began the school year by organizing a highly successful boycott of an historically voluntary convocation event, and by remaining silent at all building-level staff meetings. The school committee immediately responded by filing a strike petition.
Ironically, the educators were working in their classrooms, preparing for students’ return, yet the union was still found to be "withholding their labor," after state labor officials agreed with the management’s claim that the August convocation wasn’t voluntary.
The NTA did prevail against the other "strike" charge that related to members not speaking during staff meetings.
The mayor, school committee and the district’s contracted attorney, Liz Valerio, seem bent on "creating a reputation for themselves," Zilles said.
"They want to send a warning to other activist unions and they are weaponizing the strike petition to stifle legitimate work-to-rule actions," he said.
Locals who foresee difficult contract fights should start organizing early, the Newton president said, forming contract action teams, setting up a robust communication structure and having building-level organizers.
Zilles did not mince words in describing a more combative landscape for educator unions trying to bargain fair contracts following major union job actions over the past two years.
Associations for superintendents and school committees and law firms that represent management are going to fight harder against unions and use existing labor law that tends to favor management over workers, he said.
"As you head into negotiations, just be prepared for a struggle," Zilles said.
For information about actions that support the NTA, visit www.newteach.org.
