At 7:30 a.m. on Friday, Jan. 6, 1995, Belmont teachers gathered in the crisp winter air outside of Belmont schools to strike for increased pay and improved working conditions—issues being navigated by the School Committee and Belmont Education Association (BEA) today.
The decision to strike came after a 14-hour negotiation session from 3 p.m. on Thursday, Jan. 5 to 5:30 a.m. on Friday, according to the Belmont Citizen-Herald.
Leading up to the strike vote, the School Committee had offered a 0% raise for teachers in the first year of their contract, and a 3.5% raise in the following two years; the BEA proposed a 1% raise during the first year, a 4% raise the following year, and a 5% percent raise in the third year.
After reaching an impasse with the School Committee, the union members gathered to vote on the decision to strike, with the yes vote passing with a 2-1 margin in the early morning.
“We are distressed that the teachers have voted [for] this illegal action of declaring a strike against the schools,” said the School Committee Chair in 1995, Elizabeth Corwin, according to the Citizen-Herald.
The strike lasted for eight days, which “felt like forever,” according to Gwen Irish, one of the teachers striking in 1995, who is currently an enrichment teacher at Wellington Elementary School.
“No teacher likes to strike,” she said. “They want to be in the classroom teaching. . . but they also want to be treated with respect, and they want to be treated fairly.”
According to a history project on the strike by the Massachusetts Teachers Association (MTA), “The strike was a bitter one, with some parents crossing picket lines to keep the schools open and the district advertising for permanent replacement teachers in the middle of the strike.”
Some teachers also crossed the picket line to keep the schools open, Irish said.
Ultimately, the strike resulted in salary increases for teachers in the second and third years of the contract, and some improved working conditions.
According to Irish, however, time in the school day for teachers to collaborate was an issue left unresolved by the strike.
Preparation Time
Mary Mahony, who worked as a resource teacher in the district during 1995, recalled managing a caseload of 31 students at one time. Resource teachers provide individualized instruction for students with specialized learning needs.
“I did a separate [education] plan for each of those students,” she said. “No two students are exactly alike, especially in a resource room,” Mahoney said. “And you know that prep time came out of my family time—there was just no way that I could do it in school.”
She said she would often work on Sunday evenings to ensure she had enough time to prepare for her classes.
Jeanne Hansen, who was a third-grade teacher at Wellington Elementary School in 1995, said during her career she would often work in the classroom from 7:30 a.m. to 5 p.m., and carry work home.
In the month leading up to the strike, teachers implemented a “work-to-rule” action—wherein they only worked during the hours designated by their contract; this meant minimal time to prepare for classes.
“It was a huge burden,” said Hansen. “I often equate it to inviting someone to dinner, but not having any time to go shopping or any time to cook, they’re just going to show up. And that’s what it was like. There was no time to make copies of things or look over lessons or meet with other teachers … it was brutal.”
Growing Tension
When the union decided to strike in 1995, tension brewed in the community.
Hansen recalled hearing about teachers arriving at some schools during the strike to find the ground covered in pennies.
Parents were divided, with some standing out in the cold with the union members, and others going into classrooms to “teach” classes to keep their children in school, according to the Citizen-Herald.
The paper stated that the number of students still going to school during the strike rose from 37% on Friday, Jan. 6, to 56% the following Tuesday, due to parents and teachers crossing the picket line.
According to the Citizen-Herald, Corwin said, “We as a school department and the School Committee are doing the best to deliver education and keep things on as even a keel as possible. It’s a community crisis.”
“The stress on the parents, the children, and the teachers [was] all nasty,” Hansen said. “Everyone was suffering in some fashion.”
Mahony, who was the PTO president for the high school at the time, said her phone continually rang during the strike.
“Parents were so angry, and it was so painful,” she added.
Workload Today
Since 1995, workloads for teaching staff have intensified, said a professional aide who has been working in the district since the 1980s, and who asked to remain anonymous.
She attributed this primarily to an increase in student behavioral challenges and the need to keep up with email communications.
“We’re left having to spend a lot of time, which takes away from teaching, just working on socialization and literally basic life skills,” she said. “So there’s a shift in the amount of time spent on curriculum.”
In order to collaborate with other aides and teachers, she arrives at work early, and said this is also typical of the teachers she works with.
“Having to touch base about what’s happening [with] these students on a daily basis. . . what we need to improve [and] change—it’s a lot. Teachers are stretched to the max,” she said.
To afford to live on her salary as an aide, she also works three additional jobs.
“The turnover rate is just incredible,” she said of her position.
The contract negotiation cycle also erodes morale, according to the aide, since teachers often engage in actions such as work-to-rule at the start of the first year of their contract, and must begin thinking about actions again in the third year, as negotiations come back around.
Looking Ahead
This fall, Belmont teachers are once again starting the school year without a contract.
Some of the issues which have been under consideration by the School Committee and BEA are the length of the school day, caseloads, salary increases, and time for preparation and collaboration.
Salary proposals continue to be a sticking point, with the School Committee proposing 2.5% to 4% salary increases for educational staff, and the BEA proposing salary increases of up to 12% to 37% at some steps, according to a letter by School Committee Chair Meghan Moriarty; at issue is whether there are funds available to pay for these salary increases.
However, both sides remain committed to the negotiation process and settling a contract as soon as possible, according to Moriarty’s letter.
Until a new contract is established, the educators will continue to be covered by their current contract.
Under state law, it is illegal for teachers to strike. But, according to psu.org, since 2019, there have been 12 educator strikes in Massachusetts, including walkouts in Marblehead, Gloucester, and Newton.
