The end of the 15-day educators strike Friday was greeted with a mix of excitement, exhaustion, coupled with relief by Gloucester educators, city and school officials with a tentative agreement reached about 4 that morning.
The strike’s end means roughly 2,850 students are returning to class Monday after schools were closed for 10 school days starting Nov. 8.
About 400 teachers and paraprofessionals took to the picket lines calling for a “living wage” for paraprofessionals, wage increases for teachers, and paid family leave, among other demands.
Superintendent Ben Lummis expressed “profound relief” at a press conference Friday at West Parish Elementary School where talks with a mediator were held.
“This contract embodies the deep respect that the School Committee, the mayor and I have for our teachers and paraprofessionals by offering the highest salary increases in the history of the Gloucester Public Schools,” Lummis said. “Gloucester is now a statewide leader in parental leave and other benefits for teachers and paraprofessionals.
“It’s time for us to all exhale and let go of the challenge, tension, sadness and even anger that we’ve been experiencing over recent weeks and months.”
Missed days
The plan to make up for days missed is for classes extended to the end of June. State law requires students attend 180 days of school and that the school year not extend beyond June 30, Lummis said.
“We will have to use some February dates as well,” he said. April vacation would be reserved for possible snow days, but a plan has not been finalized.
The date of Gloucester High’s graduation will not change, Lummis added.
The agreements
The strike ended early Friday morning when the School Committee and the Union of Gloucester Educators, consisting of the Gloucester Teachers Association and the Gloucester Association of Educational Paraprofessionals, came to a tentative agreement for new contracts after two weeks of mediation.
Highlights of the agreements include:
Wage increases for paraprofessionals ranging from $10,446 to $14,109 during the contract. It moves top earners from $26,155 to $36,600.
A one-time payment of $2,000 for paraprofessionals in school year 2026 -2027.
A new paid parental leave benefit for teachers and paraprofessionals ensuring new parents have at least seven weeks of paid parental leave.
An increase in the number of sick days to care for a family member from five to 10 days.
An increase for paraprofessionals in the number of sick bank days for personal illness or injury from 30 to 100 days.
For teachers with a master’s degree and above, there’s a wages increase ranging from 15.7% to 36.5% over a four-year contract. In dollars this equates to $13,566 to $28,832.
A wage increase that moves top teacher earners from $97,500 to $113,000, a 15.8% increase over four years.
Increased teaching time at O’Maley Middle School by 10 minutes for teachers.
Creation of school-based behavior teams to better support students.
“This has not been easy,” Mayor Greg Verga said, thanking all sides who played a role in negotiations. “The past two weeks have been challenging for everyone in our community.”
Verga’s priority was to ensure students could return to their classrooms “while also setting a contract that demonstrates my respect and appreciation for the essential work that our teachers and paraprofessionals do.
“At the same time it’s my responsibility as mayor to balance this with the financial realities of our community,” he said. The agreement reflects the priorities of educators while being sustainable budget-wise.
On Friday afternoon, Union of Gloucester Educators Co-President Rachel Salvo Rex stood with a couple dozen educators outside the Blue Collar Lobster Co. and Gloucester House Restaurant where the initial strike vote had been taken Nov. 7. Members unanimously ratified the agreement and were ready to return to work, she said.
Rex said members agreed to “a strong and fair contract that ensures our students have the best learning conditions possible.
“This contract fight was about working-class educators, community members, and students, versus those who have the power and wield to maintain a broken system,” she said.
“What this strike proved is that in the face of cruel punishment and immense hardship the more than 400 educators of the Union of Gloucester Educators had enough power to stand up, fight back and transform this community.
“For 15 unnecessary days,” Rex said Friday, “School Committee Chair Kathy Clancy and Mayor Greg Verga stalled and used every tactic in the book to break our union, from hiring a union busting law firm or paying a public relations firm, Melwood Global, (at) a cost of $90,000 to put out disinformation.
“The Union of Gloucester Educators may be broke but we are not broken,” Rex added, to cheers from her members.
Both units had been working under expired contracts before the strike; the teachers’ contract expired at the end of August, and the paraprofessionals had been without a new contract for 512 days.
While paraprofessionals may not have reached a “living wage,” they would be seeing wage increases ranging from 40% to 63% over a five-year contract.
“We are excited we fought the fight,” paraprofessional Margaret Rudolph said. The “biggest barrier” to coming to an agreement was the demand for a living wage for paraprofessionals, Rex said.
“We got a significant pay raise,” Rudolph said. “We are not at the living wage where we would hope to be, where we need to be, but it is a significant raise and it will make a difference to the bottom line of poverty workers.”
School Committee Chair Kathy Clancy said the contracts include “a vital focus on improving student learning.
“We believe this agreement accomplishes our primary goals from the start,” she said.
Regarding the hiring of a strategic communications company, Clancy said late Friday: “The School Committee felt it was extremely important for the community to understand and follow the negotiations because any agreement made would cost millions of dollars and taxpayers needed to be informed about the magnitude of what was being discussed during negotiations.”
Strike fees, fines
Strikes by public employees are illegal; as such, a Superior Court judge approved a preliminary injunction to end the strike, according to court documents.
When the strike went on, a judge allowed a civil contempt order against the educator unions that imposed escalating “coercive fines” to get educators back to class.
On Thursday, the judge suspended the daily fine for a day, giving the unions until Sunday to engage in a fact-finding process and end the strike. The unions informed the court Friday they had struck a deal.
The educators and the schools signed a Return to Work agreement covering a number of issues paving the way for educators to get back into the classroom, including allowing members of both unions “to be paid in full with no loss or reduction of pay based on the work stoppage provided that they make up the days in order to work their full work year.”
The Gloucester Teachers Association also agreed to pay the School Committee $225,000 to cover expenses and damages during the strike. The agreement outlines a repayment schedule over a number of years to accomplish this.
Teachers in Beverly and Marblehead continue to strike. Beverly students have been out of school for nine days, and Marblehead eight.
Ethan Forman may be contacted at 978-675-2714, or at eforman@northofboston.com.