MARBLEHEAD – While Gloucester students went back to school Monday, Beverly and Marblehead kids were out for the 11th and 10th school days, respectively. Both communities are at a standstill in bargaining as the court orders an independent fact finder to help resolve the labor disputes.

Both unions face hundreds of thousands of dollars in court-ordered fines, as a judge held them in contempt after they engaged in an illegal strike. Union leadership says school committees are not negotiating in good faith. Striking teachers are going without pay, as school committee members say it’s illegal to pay an employee who is on strike.

Public employee strikes illegal in Massachusetts

All public employee strikes are illegal in Massachusetts, due to a law introduced in 1973 after a number of strikes across New Bedford and Franklin in which teachers were arrested. Teachers are not arrested in modern day strikes, but rather, their unions face hefty fines.

“I don’t think that a judge wants to put anybody in jail because you don’t necessarily want to make a martyr out of somebody who might not deserve martyr status,” said Glenn Koocher, the Executive Director of the Massachusetts Association of School Committees.

In a press conference Monday afternoon, members of the Marblehead school committee accused the simultaneous strikes in three North Shore communities as being coordinated by the Massachusetts Teachers Association, the statewide educators union.

“In this case it is clear that the statewide MTA is coordinating these strikes,” said Jenn Schaeffner, co-chairperson of the Marblehead School Committee. 

“Well, I don’t believe there’s any evidence that this is part of a statewide conspiracy, but I can tell that it is unusual that three school districts in the same area would all strike at the same time, use some of the same talking points,” Koocher added. “This significantly disrupts the welfare of children of all ages, and it’s never good not to be in school.”

Lawyer wants union to pay parents after strikes

A Chicago-based attorney is currently trying to change to outcome of teachers’ strikes through lawsuits. Daniel Suhr of Hughes and Suhr Law represents multiple Newton parents in a lawsuit against the Newton Teachers Association for individual damages (childcare, work missed, and more) form the winter 2024 strike that lasted 11 days in Newton. He has four other active similar cases across the country.

“I think the lesson the unions took from Newton is, we can break the law and still make a lot of money,” Suhr said. “That if we make a $53 million collective bargaining agreement, but only pay a half a million dollars in fines, well, if we don’t care what the law is, that’s just profit.”

Suhr alleges that making the unions pay penalties to parents would deter future strikes.

“We want to stop this from happening again,” he said. “Clearly the system is broken. These injunctions from judges are not being respected by the unions. And so, our hope is that a real financial disincentive which is paying these parents and students for the damage they’re causing will finally put an end to this.”

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The Healey administration is aiming to eventually limit shelter costs to $350 million per year compared to the more than $1 billion dollars spent this fiscal year.

Governor Healey announced her plan on Friday that would bring significant changes over the next 19 months.

It includes winding down the use of 56 hotels and motels across the state and cutting down the shelter stay limit from nine months to six months.

Those steps will come with increased resources for finding long-term housing.

Healey is proposing that the rental stipend families can receive under state’s HomeBASE program increase from $15,000 per family per year to $25,000 per family per year.

“The landlord gets payments from HomeBASE. As a family’s income increases, the goal is to get their income so they’re no longer dependent on HomeBASE,” said Jeff Thielman, President and CEO of the International Institute of New England.

The state intends to slash the 7,500-family limit across shelter system to below 3,500.

“To make the Governor’s plan work, the shelter system and all of us who work in it, have to work faster than we are right now,” said Thielman.

The plans to further limit shelter stays would need the approval of lawmakers.

If approved, families considered more capable of supporting themselves could potentially face 30-day shelter limits.

“I think moving to a six-month limit is going to be tricky,” said Thielman. “There is a shortage of available units all across the state.”

Thielman said most of the migrant families his organization is working with in the shelter system have been temporarily paroled into the country for humanitarian reasons.

He said many have applied for or have received temporary protective status.

President-elect Trump has said he plans to end those legal entry programs.

“It’s highly unlikely that President Trump will have the ability to revoke someone’s lawful status,” said Thielman.

Trump has said that the more than one million migrants who are in the U.S. under Humanitarian Parole will be subject to deportations.

While Massachusetts is not a sanctuary state, it has eight sanctuary cities.

Mayors in those communities and Governor Healey have all said that they will not target people based on their immigration status.

This is a developing story. Check back for updates as more information becomes available.

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