Massachusetts
Beverly, Gloucester teachers on strike. Here's why
Schools are closed in two Massachusetts cities on Friday as teachers go on strike. Teachers in Beverly and Gloucester plan to picket as they continue to negotiate a new contract.
Well, they’ve been in negotiations without a contract since February – and have reached an impasse.
So instead of being in the classrooms today, teachers will be picketing outside these schools.
In Gloucester, they’re looking for an 18-25% raise over the course of a new contract, and up to 52 days of paid parental leave, among other issues.
But Gloucester’s mayor says the city is facing up to a $7 million budget shortfall, and it’s impossible to give teachers everything they’re asking for.
Meanwhile in Beverly, teachers say they’re underpaid, schools are understaffed, classrooms are overflowing, and teachers are burned out and heading to other districts.
The Department of Labor Relations is now involved, and so negotiations will be through a mediator going forward.
“None of us wants to do this, but at this point we have no choice,” said Julia Brotherton, of the Beverly Teachers Association. “Beverly schools are in crisis. Critical paraprofessional positions regularly go unfilled because the city pays only poverty wages.”
The Beverly School Committee said in a statement, “We want to make it clear that the School Committee does not condone the illegal actions of the Beverly Teachers Association…We understand that this is a severe disruption to the lives of our students and families…”
Meanwhile, Gloucester has a playoff football game Friday night that could be in jeopardy and might not happen due to the strike. We should find out later in the day whether that will happen.
Massachusetts
Top Places to Work in Massachusetts: Explore the winners lists and more – The Boston Globe
Day-to-day work can be a grind — the same slog to the office or job site, the same bad coffee, the same Zoom squares.
But the world of work itself is ever changing.
Employers must constantly make room for a new generation of workers, the current crop of whom are complex: technology whizzes who yearn to lead but are seemingly unafraid to skip out on jobs they’ve already been hired for.
At the same time, the number of older workers is on the rise, including three 80-plus-year-old salesmen at the Newton Highlands restaurant wholesaler Boston Showcase Co. who help younger co-workers understand the difference between what customers want and what they need.
We’re also trying to figure out how to deal with the explosion of meetings that has turned office workers into Zoom zombies while grappling with our cellphone addictions, which are admittedly a welcome distraction during all those meetings.
Diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives have taken a beating in recent years, despite the fact that many of these efforts are simply about making everyone feel more welcome at work. Leaders at Entrada Therapeutics in Boston adjusted slide presentations to accommodate people who are colorblind while Boston online auto retailer CarGurus provides nonalcoholic beverages during work happy hours to make nondrinkers feel more comfortable.
The best employers know how to consider the many ways work changes — and stays the same — and keep people happy all the while. Kymera Therapeutics in Watertown, for example, takes employees on deep-sea fishing trips. At another Watertown biotech, C4 Therapeutics, employees are entered into a drawing each quarter to win two weeks of extra paid time off.
This year, 175 companies made the Globe’s annual Top Places to Work list, including 39 newcomers. In all, the employee engagement company Energage, based in Exton, Pennsylvania, invited more than 8,000 organizations with employees in Massachusetts to participate. Nearly 68,000 workers at 323 companies rated their employers on leadership, values, training, benefits, and other metrics. The rankings are broken down into four size categories: small (50-99 employees); medium (100-249); large (250-999); and largest (1,000 or more).
The data for these rankings are based on company profiles at the time the surveys were conducted earlier this year.
Winning employers are well aware of the balancing act required to meet employees where they’re at while keeping them engaged and motivated. And they know a few extra weeks off or a deep-sea fishing trip never hurts.
Explore the winners’ lists (by company size) and more:
TO PARTICIPATE IN THE 2025 TOP PLACES TO WORK SURVEY: Visit bostonglobe.com/nominate
Katie Johnston can be reached at katie.johnston@globe.com. Follow her @ktkjohnston.
Massachusetts
Board explores allowing 3-year bachelor’s degree for colleges in Massachusetts
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Massachusetts
Wind advisory for 3 Massachusetts counties until Thursday night
A wind advisory was issued by the National Weather Service on Wednesday at 3:54 a.m. valid from 7 p.m. until Thursday 10 p.m. for Barnstable, Dukes and Nantucket counties.
The weather service comments, “Southwest winds 15 to 25 mph with gusts 40 to 50 mph possible.”
“Gusty winds will blow around unsecured objects. Tree limbs could be blown down and a few power outages may result,” says the weather service. “Winds this strong can make driving difficult, especially for high profile vehicles. Use extra caution.”
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