Judge orders striking teachers in Newton to return to work Monday
NEWTON — The Newton Teachers Association brought classroom instruction to a halt on Friday for nearly 12,000 students, as educators went on strike in the state’s ninth-largest school district in hopes of securing a new contract amid contentious negotiations.
With the nearly two dozen schools shut down, hundreds of educators took to the streets in informal gatherings across the city to call attention to their plight. They later turned out for a City Hall rally that drew about 2,000 supporters, filling the steps of the stately building and stretching across the lawn. Over and over, supporters chanted, “Enough is enough.”
“It’s important for students to see that we’re fighting for them,” said Denise Cremin, a Spanish teacher at Newton North High School. “This is fighting for their learning, for their growth, for what we do together in the classroom.”
The fight also is about adequate compensation and a host of other issues, she said, noting that teachers are overworked and underpaid — especially in supporting students struggling with mental health issues from the COVID-19 pandemic.
The strike, overwhelmingly approved by nearly 1,700 union members Thursday, is the latest in a wave of work stoppages taken by a small but growing number of teacher unions in Greater Boston in recent years to secure new contracts, even though such actions are illegal under state law.
Consequently, the union is now facing a legal challenge by the Massachusetts Department of Labor Relations, which asked a Middlesex Superior Court judge in a motion filed Friday to halt the strike.
Soon after, Judge Christopher K. Barry-Smith ordered the union and its leaders to “immediately cease and desist” from the work stoppage, and instructed all employees to return to work Monday, according to a preliminary injunction.
Unions that break the law can incur hefty fines. The Haverhill Education Association, for instance, got hit with $110,000 in fines for its four-day strike in October 2022. So far, no fines have been issued against Newton teachers, who have started a fund-raising campaign.
Mayor Ruthanne Fuller in a letter to the community reiterated her call for the NTA to end the strike and “follow the law.”
“Our kids should be in their classrooms learning while the adults negotiate,” she said.
According to Fuller, the School Committee’s negotiating team, the union, and a state-appointed mediator gathered Friday afternoon at the Newton Education Center, where they resumed their talks.
It remains unclear how long it will take the union and the School Committee to reach an agreement. The two sides, which began negotiations in fall 2022 to replace a contract that expired last August, remain deeply divided on several issues, including compensation.
The union is seeking a 13 percent pay increase for its members over three years while the School Committee is offering 8 percent, according to a School Committee analysis. The average cost of living increase in peer districts over three years is 8.85 percent, the analysis found.
The average annual salary of Newton teachers was $93,000 during the 2020-21 school year, according to the most recent state data, compared with a statewide average of $86,000, which includes salaries for educators in Western Massachusetts where pay is notably lower.
A challenge with the talks is that Newton’s revenue growth is somewhat fixed, given the city does not have much room for new development to grow its tax base, said Matt Hills, a former Newton School Committee member who now serves on the state Board of Elementary and Secondary Education.
“You must get the compensation package right in order to avoid reducing staff and draining money from the budget,” he said.
Newton city leaders attempted to secure a nearly $9.2 million property tax increase last March that would have supported city services and the schools, but voters rejected it. Several months later, the mayor announced a more than $40 million budget surplus, which irked many teacher supporters who now don’t understand why the city cannot afford to settle the contract.
“I feel hurt on behalf of these educators who have been through so much,” said Alison Lobron, the mother of two Newton North High School students and founder of the Newton Parent/Educator Collaborative, a parent group that supports a fair contract for teachers. “What they want to be doing is teaching our kids and they don’t have the resources to do their jobs.”
David Bedar, an executive committee member of the union and history teacher at Newton North, said, going on strike is “frustrating and yet it’s empowering.”
”You only take this kind of action as an absolute last resort, and that’s what it is,” he said.
“Chronic underfunding, absolute refusal by the mayor to fully fund the schools … While this is extremely distressing to have to be doing this, I think everybody understands the necessity at this point.”
On Friday morning, educators marched the streets surrounding Newton North High School, with passing cars honking in support. Many carried signs reading “NTA on strike” and “fair contract now.”
Representatives shouted demands through speakerphones to resounding cheers from surrounding marchers. Others carried speakers playing music, banged on makeshift drums of empty bins and trash can lids, and chanted: “We are the union, the mighty mighty union.”
Zachary Pfannenstiel, a sophomore at Newton North, brandished an “NTA on strike” sign, writing on the back, “students for fair contracts.”
Congresswoman Ayanna Pressley on Friday threw her support behind Newton educators.
“I urge Mayor Fuller and the Newton School Committee to immediately come to the table, invest in our educators, and fully fund the schools Newton deserves,” she said in a statement.