NEWTON, MASS. (WHDH) - Classes will be canceled in Newton again on Tuesday after negotiations failed to produce an agreement to end the ongoing teachers strike in the city.
Now well over a week after educators voted to authorize a strike on Jan. 18, representatives of both sides of the dispute on Sunday voiced new criticism over the status of stalled talks.
Parents and families, in the meantime, have been left leaning on each other as they wait out what has become the longest teachers strike in Massachusetts in the past 30 years.
“No rational school committee could agree to this demand,” said Newton School Committee Chair Chris Brezski at a Sunday-night press conference, referencing contract proposals from the Newton Teachers Association.
“It was disgraceful,” said teachers association President Michael Zilles in separate remarks, referencing the latest round of negotiations between the teachers association and the school committee. “We made a good faith effort to put the children back in school.”
The last contract between the Newton Teachers Association and the School Committee expired in August.
In talks around a new deal, educators have outlined a series of asks including new student mental health measures, higher wages, and paid family leave for all educators.
City leaders have pushed back on union proposals, warning the requested measures would force deep cuts across Newton’s municipal budget.
“We’re telling you what we have to have and we’re giving you everything we can give to reach an agreement,” Zilles said in his Sunday remarks.
City leaders have similarly said they are bargaining in good faith in pursuit of a deal.
Come Sunday, though, Newton Mayor Ruthanne Fuller said “the split between neighbor and neighbor, union and school committee, mayor and residents, it’s growing wider.”
Strikes among public employees are prohibited in Massachusetts.
Educators in other school districts including Brookline, Haverhill, Malden, Woburn, and Andover have all gone on strike since 2022 in defiance of the state ban. In each case, though, unions and school committees reached deals to return to work after a matter of days.
In Newton, even as court-ordered fines pile up and as their strike enters a new week, striking teachers have vowed to remain on the picket line until they reach an agreement.
A judge last week said the Newton Teachers Association would face another $50,000 fine one top of the $375,000 it already owes if school was not in session on Monday.
With schools indeed closed, there was a solidarity rally scheduled in support of Newton teachers at 1 p.m.
The Newton Teachers Association took to social media, in the meantime, saying its bargaining team and dozens of observers were working to update their proposals Monday morning.
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