MELROSE, Mass — Melrose teachers have voted to strike next week if the educators and the town school committee cannot come to a new contract agreement before Tuesday, January 17.
According to the Melrose Education Association, the teachers have been working without a contract since June. The organization cites inadequate pay and working conditions as the main drivers of Melrose’s recent staff shortage of teachers.
The Melrose Education Association released a statement Friday:
“Our educators, students, families, and community deserve better than what Melrose Mayor Paul Brodeur and the Melrose School Committee have been willing to offer and what we know the city can afford. Even though our contract expired almost 200 days ago, Melrose educators have been showing up to their schools and delivering an excellent education to the students who we serve. We are dedicated to our students, and if Mayor Brodeur and the School Committee were equally committed to our students, we would have reached a contract settlement long ago. This prolonged bargaining and the refusal on the part of Mayor Brodeur and School Committee to properly invest in our schools is disheartening and disrespectful. We remain hopeful that the School Committee bargaining team will meet with the MEA bargaining team as soon as possible. Bringing in an outside mediator only will delay negotiations by keeping the MEA and School Committee from meeting together and that process will ultimately cost the city more money. Our decision to strike is not an easy one to make. However, we also no longer can ignore the unmet needs of our students because Mayor Brodeur and the School Committee will not fund a contract that supports the public schools that Melrose deserves.”
Melrose Mayor Paul Brodeur stated he hopes the two sides can come to an amicable agreement:
“The School Committee’s bargaining team has been and will continue to negotiate in good faith until they reach an agreement on a contract that is fair to our teachers, meets the needs of our students and families, and is financially sustainable. District leaders are currently focused on two things: ensuring that our students have access to meals during the school day in the event of a strike, and continuing communications with DLR mediators and the MEA, whom we informed today that a mediator and the School Committee are ready and available to continue negotiating over the weekend. Unlike a strike, mediation offers the best opportunity for parties to come to an agreement without impacting our students.”
Teachers unions in Andover, Belmont, Brookline, Burlington, Cambridge, Lexington, Malden, Somerville, Tewksbury, and Wellesley expressed their support of the Melrose educators.
“Our unions stand in solidarity with union educators in Melrose who are fighting for a fair contract, respect in the workplace, and the schools their students deserve. We condone the withholding of their labor and encourage the members of the Melrose Education Association to remain steadfast in their demands for better working conditions for educators and better learning conditions for students. Our unions are ready to offer whatever support may be needed for their strike effort, including picketing and inducing support from other public employees,” the unions said in a joint statement.
In November, the Melrose teachers held a work-to-rule rally in order to push for better pay.
The Melrose Education Association and its supporters will hold a rally at Memorial Knoll Park at 1 p.m. on Sunday. The park is located directly across from the high school.
Melrose School Committee Chair Margaret Driscoll said “The School Committee is very pleased to be meeting with the MEA at the negotiation table at 11:00 am with the hope of making progress towards a comprehensive agreement that collaboratively supports the various needs of all students. We have a mediator ready to assist this afternoon as needed. We care about our teachers, and we are looking forward to continuing to work together on behalf of our students, educators and community.”
This is a developing story. Check back for updates as more information becomes available.
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