Teachers union calls impasse in negotiations
After more than 18 months at the negotiating table, the Boston Teachers Union has declared an impasse and filed a petition for a state mediator with the Department of Labor Relations, claiming the school department has refused to bargain in “good faith.”
“The parties have been negotiating for a successor agreement for more than 16 months, without success, and have held in excess of 30 bargaining sessions during that time,” wrote Matthew E. Dwyer, the union’s attorney in a letter to the state filed yesterday.
He added that the “impasse on so many issues” should spur state labor officials to “investigate this matter promptly.”
Emails obtained by the Herald show City Hall attempted to continue talks with the union last week to “give this another chance.”
The emails show BTU President Richard Stutman responded, “No point ... We can resume in June or July.”
Last night Stutman said City Hall is “spinning it. We welcome mediation, it’s good for the process.”
In a statement to union members, Stutman said: “Unfortunately, negotiations have come to a halt as the School Department has refused to bargain in good faith. … Both the Boston School Committee and the superintendent have shown total indifference to settling the contract.”
Mayor Martin J. Walsh called the impasse “unfortunate.”
“The city of Boston has been able to reach agreements with two of its largest unions without public battles,” Walsh said in a statement. “I am disappointed that the Boston Teachers Union has decided to walk away from the table and release misleading information about negotiations.”
The two sides began negotiating in February 2016 to replace the contract that expired last August. BPS and BTU are divided on several key issues including support and class size for special education classes, teacher compensation and the future of unassigned teachers.
“I am confident that we have made reasonable financial proposals, in exchange for reasonable reform requests, and we welcome the opportunity to resume discussions if the BTU is interested in returning to the bargaining table,” Superintendent Tommy Chang said in a statement.
The average salary for a Boston teacher is $90,467 — among the highest in the country.