‘Children come last’: Illegal teachers’ union strike nears fourth week in Massachusetts

Striking teachers’ unions in Massachusetts continue to defy the law and hold public education hostage in order to negotiate more lucrative contracts.

At the beginning of November, three Massachusetts teachers’ unions went on strike – the Beverly Teachers Association (BTA) and Union of Gloucester Educators (UCE) on Nov. 7 and the Marblehead Education Association (MEA) on Nov. 12.

With Thanksgiving looming, two of the three unions refused to return to the classroom on Monday, even though they’re incurring tens of thousands of dollars in fines.  

“We have put on the table the best contract that’s ever been offered in this city’s history. One of the best that you’re going to find anywhere in the state,” said Beverly Mayor Michael Cahill. “And our children – these people who don’t care about Beverly, the [teachers’ union] doesn’t care about children.  

“Children come last with them.”  

Rachael Abell, president of the Beverly School Committee, said the union there isn’t considering the city’s budget restraints, and even rejected an offer on Thursday that would have increased educator salaries by $2 million. 

“The union spent very little time reviewing and then essentially insisted on their initial demands, which are way beyond what is affordable to the city,” she said. According to Abell, the union wants $3.3 million more than the city can offer.  

She also emphasized the harm such strikes cause to students and families.  

“We continued to dig deep, putting more money on the table than ever before, but were consistently told that our offers were not enough,” Abell said, reported NBC. “The disruption to students and families is real, and we know the students who rely on our schools for so many services are suffering. They need their teachers back to work.  

“They need them to set aside their grievances, their anger and get back to the table to solve this crisis.” 

Teachers’ union strikes are so disruptive that most states – including Massachusetts – have declared them illegal.  

Daniel Suhr, an attorney who represents families in lawsuits against teachers’ unions, previously explained to The Lion why states take such a hard line:    

“Multiple academic studies demonstrate that they negatively impact students’ learning and social/emotional well-being. They also leave parents scrambling as schools shut down, sometimes for weeks, causing anxiety and disruption across an entire community.  

“Parents saw first-hand what happened when COVID shut down their schools, and they do not want to live through that again because unions are willing to break the law in their quest for higher salaries or so-called ‘social justice’ agendas.”  

Soon after the strikes began, a Massachusetts judge told the unions to go back to work or face a $50,000 fine with an additional $10,000 for every day the strike extended beyond the deadline.  

As a result, all three unions will owe the state over $100,000 each, and potentially more as BTA and MEA continue to strike. UCE reached an agreement with Gloucester leadership on Friday.  

But even when unions face hundreds of thousands of dollars in fines for defying the law, it can still be financially worthwhile.    

“The price of an illegal strike to a union is often negated by the financial gains these unions will see by taking a percentage of increased teacher wages,” Ashley Varner, vice president of Communication and Federal Affairs at the Freedom Foundation, previously told The Lion. “Strikes like this show exactly why unions got into this business to begin with.    

“It isn’t to improve education or to help children. It’s money.” 

Even Democrat Gov. Maura Healey is trying to get the unions to go back to work.  

“It’s hurting our young people, parents and families above all else. Students need to be back in school on Monday,” Healey said in a statement on Saturday. “I have spoken to all parties, and I believe they are at a place where they should be able to reach an agreement this weekend, and they should do so.  

“If they don’t reach that agreement, they should ensure that students can return to the classroom on Monday while these negotiations continue.” 

A judge even offered to waive the unions’ substantial fines if agreements were reached by Sunday evening, which didn’t happen. Instead, the unions are complaining about not being able to break the law without legal repercussions.  

“The MEA continues to demand that the School Committee end its pursuit of legal charges against individual educators related to the strike,” a statement from the Marblehead union said. “The MEA furthermore stresses the importance of reaching an agreement on return-to-work provisions that ensure no educators will be subject to retaliation for participating in the strike.”