MARBLEHEAD — Despite the long weekend, the Marblehead Education Association and the Marblehead School Committee still have yet to reach a new contract agreement.
On Saturday, Nov. 9, the School Committee and MEA met for a bargaining session with a mediator from the Department of Labor Relations. A meeting with a mediator does not allow the two parties to be in the same room, the mediator moves between the two.
The School Committee rejected all MEA proposals through the mediator with no further explanations. The meeting was adjourned after six hours with no agreement between the two parties and leaving the MEA to continue with their strike.
In a press release by the School Committee on Saturday, Nov. 9, it stated the Commonwealth Employment Relations Board (CERB), found the MEA had violated labor laws and ordered a cease and desist from threatening to strike. The MEA did not comply with the CERB order.
The School Committee later proposed that the MEA comply with the order and they offered to continue to engage in mediation throughout the weekend, on Tuesday, and until an agreement is reached. This would keep the children in school and all extra curricular activities going while negotiations continue. The MEA rejected the proposal.
The press release also stated the School Committee had multiple members out of state for the holiday weekend. Many members of the MEA voiced their frustration with this, wondering where their true commitments are.
On Sunday, Nov. 10, numerous MEA members held standouts at the Glover School and Old Town Hall. The traffic light at the Glover School is a busy intersection with a continuous flow of vehicles. Nearly every car passing through was honking their horns or waving in support of the educators and their action to strike.
Around 1:00 p.m. on Sunday, Nov. 10, the MEA sent out a press release stating they have filed an unfair labor practice charge with the state’s Department of Labor Relations. This came after the state-appointed mediator had scheduled a bargaining session for Sunday morning. While the MEA had shown up ready to bargain, no representative of the School Committee attended the session.
MEA President Jonathan Heller said, “We are trying everything possible to settle a fair contract with all five MEA bargaining units by Monday night.”
The MEA does not want to keep the kids from school, Heller said.
“The kids need to be in school, but we also need to address the serious issues,” he said.
Unless an agreement is reached prior to Tuesday, Nov. 12, the MEA strike will begin. There is currently no estimate on how long it could last.
