What is the deal with city labor contracts? The teachers went back to school this year without a signed contract. A number of other city unions contracts have also expired.
I’m not a labor lawyer or a union member and don’t really know much about how this process typically works. That said, it sure seems more than a bit odd for much of the city government to have had their labor contracts expired without a replacement in place.
Is this common or typical in other towns? It seems to be the norm in Newton, at least in recent years.
I have no answers or information, just questions.
Thank you for addressing this issue, Jerry. Right now employees in all 17 city unions are working without a contract. In the past, one or two unions might have been working without a negotiated contract, but I have no recollection of a time when all 17 were without a contact. This should be unacceptable to Newton residents – these are the people who keep us safe, teach our children, and make many city institutions run smoothly.
One of the conservation groups was told recently that there’s plenty of money to buy Webster Woods. The seniors have been told there’s plenty of money to build a 38,000 sf center with a gymnasium that when surveyed, 12 people favored. Teacher have been told there’s no money, that the budget is tight, etc. It appears to be a question of priorities. I favor both a negotiated purchase of Webster Woods and an enlarged designated senior center, but I also believe city employees matter as well, and should be a high priority at this point, given this unprecedented situation.
We have the lowest unemployment in 50 years it was announced today.
Having EVERY single union employee in the city without a contract seems to be the most irresponsible cases of mismanagement and misplaced priorities I have ever seen in city politics.
Take care of your people first. How does this help seniors? Children? Children on IEPs who need special services? Students with behavioral and/or mental health issues who need the services of psychologists and school nurses? When we can’t fill positions or lose people because our salaries are too low or unions and the city can’t agree on the definition of “fair” pay? *
A famous quote from Mahatma Gandhi springs to mind: ‘The true measure of any society can be found in how it treats its most vulnerable members’.
*The average wage increase every year is 3% in the Boston-Worcester-RI New England triangle according to US Dept of Labor Stats from summer 2019 but the City doesn’t want to give that to the teachers, psychologists, BTs special aides, and admins.
Apparently the money is needed for NewCAL (the athletic/community center rather than simply senior center).
@Jane, please stop taking what I posted about money for Webster Woods out of context. It is misleading.
That comment was about money within the Community Preservation Committee which has specific defined usage and cannot be used to pay salaries.
I agree that no contracts is alarming and needs to be addressed immediately.
I apologize, Nelson – I should have been clearer. I’m mostly concerned about the legal fees related to a lawsuit with BC which over the years could be substantial. I’m also glad to hear that you find this situation alarming because it is – and unprecedented.
It’s a shame that various advocacy groups are siloed (environment, housing, unions, transportation) when, in fact, many people in number of the groups are in agreement on all these issues and should/could be working together for the betterment of the city. IMO, this problem as become more pronounced since the loss of the local media.
Maybe we can work past that with conversations. I’ll attend your next CPC meeting as an advocate for your mission. The only way to move forward is to do it together.
Jerry, thank you for this post. These labor issues need to stay front and center until all of Newton’s public employees have signed contracts.
I’ve posted and commented many times about how Newton’s teachers are continuing to educate Newton’s kids without a contract and only a year long temporary memorandum while supposedly new contracts were negotiated before that.
Our schools, driven by our teachers, have always been the pride of Newton as our property values have soared. I know there are other reasons people move to Newton but the top one is “for the school’s.” That can all change, and has been changing, if we are not giving teachers the wage package they deserve. Good teachers are leaving Newton.
I am very involved in the world of education, from elementary schools to post doc education. From that viewpoint, I can say that NPS has some major problems from the hiring process to the pay scale.
NPS publishes its vacancies with only vague specifications about the job and without saying what school is involved. This process leads to educators applying for a job without enough knowledge about what they are applying for – which then leads to wasted time on both the principals, including others who are a part of the interviewing process, and candidates alike. Posting vacancies this way also leads to other principals who need to fill vacancies of their own and who like the qualifications of the candidate calling to interview them for their school. It breeds disrespect among principals and other educators. These are real life examples, not just theories. The first question principal ask candidates is “have you been contacted by other schools in Newton?”
The teacher support system is confusing. The city lists three types of aides – special education aides, special education IDEA aides and special education aide specialists with very little explanation of their job description differences or pay scale. A part time special education aide math RTI, Response to Education, specialist who enters on step 4 is offered $20/hour regardless of their background. And part time is what our schools want most so there is no need for benefit packages.
In other districts, RTI is taught by educators with a masters in special ed and are paid accordingly. RTI is for students who are not keeping up in the regular math classroom but do not qualify for IEP’s. These educators help students gain mastery of their math skills by helping them gain more confidence in themselves and their mindset on math, helping them understand the reasoning behind the skills, advocating for themselves and practice of course.
As most of you know I could go on and on about what our teachers do and why they need to be respected and paid accordingly, but I will just stick with math in this comment.
Except – Does the fact that our high school’s have 74 out of district placements, divided equally between them, mean anything to you?
@Marti Bowen –
I’m afraid it doesn’t but I’m guessing it does to you -do tell
Jerry, I don’t know what “I’m afraid it doesn’t” means except that you believe the facts I presented about NPS are irrelevant or have no meaning at all. So, I really think any answer I give will continue to mean nothing to you. The “divided equally” was just for information purposes.
But here goes, last year, there were only 17 students total in all of the 15 elementary schools and 19 students in the middle schools who were placed out of district – meaning there was sufficient special education available in Newton to help almost all of the students’ needs. In the high schools during that same period of time, the number of students needing help that could not be accommodated in Newton was 74.
That means to me that too many high school students have to leave Newton to receive the help they need which takes them away from friends, has them sitting in transportation during school and is very costly for Newton. This in turn means to me that if Newton would supply more special ed help in high school, these students wouldn’t have to go through the above.
@Marti Bowen – Sorry, I think my response was confusing. You asked:
I didn’t know that fact and when you told me, I had no understanding of what the significance or meaning of that fact was. It sounded more like a riddle that I didn’t know the answer to.
Your explanation in the next comment clarified everything. Thanks
@Marti Bowen, wow. Thank you so much for sharing this. We are planning a petition and a march of concerned parent-taxpayers via our FB Group Newton Civic Action Forum. Can you please contact me to help us formulate the petition? Thank you
@Nelson, my understanding is the feasiblity and professional fees for NewCal are coming out of the operating budget, which is the same place salaries come from. So far $400K for architect, $150K for feasiblity. We are all against another $150K feasibility study on Abermarle, it’s a waste of money. Washington St was $500K+ in professional fees I believe.
There should be a freeze on all new projects until the contracts are finalized.
Is anyone concerned that the City Council may override the Mayor’s veto on their pay raises? We haven’t settled teacher contracts or other City union contracts but no one is showing any real outrage for this inappropriate money grab which exceeded the recommendations of the BRC.
Jerry, you are totally right. I don’t understand how this is not a top priority for the city. I get Mayor’s updates, and she is talking about the python or Webster Woods, but nothing about contracts??? Where are Newton’s priorities??? Very disappointing.
Peter, not really concerned about the veto override. While the timing sucks, ultimately the impact on the budget is minimal. More concerned about why Webster Woods upcoming litigation can apparently be funded, but teacher contracts can’t.
@ Irene – I beg to differ. Are you aware that City Councilors receive full pension benefits with life time health care after 10 years of service? Are you aware this will have an impact on our pension liabilities for years to come? For what should be a stipend is now going to be allowed to grow to levels that we just can’t afford.
@Irene,
Not to defend the City on the contract issue but the Mayor can not speak about contracts under negotiation.
As a City employee, I find the constant “we don’t have any money” argument to be so disrespectful to the Union members across this City that work hard every single day. Some Union’s have been without a contract for YEARS….not months, YEARS. And all those years, the Mayor (both Warren and Fuller) has freely spent money on things that were not a priority.
The City of Newton has PLENTY of money…let’s start spending it on the people who make Newton great every day.
What TWT said! Employees need to be a top priority in order to attract and retain the best people for these positions.
It is certainly not good policy to have so many unresolved contracts, for many of the reasons already stated here. At a minimum, it is bad for morale and indicates (even if unintentionally) a lack of regard for the workers. It also means that contract language is not up to date with regard to what might be important changed circumstances since the last collective bargaining agreement. I wonder what the problem is, a lack of staff depth at City Hall, a desire to time agreements in some way that’s appears to be better on the political calendar, or what? Theoretically, the fault could also lie with the unions–if they are being unduly recalcitrant–but for so many to be in this situation, that would appear to be unlikely.
Paul,
What exactly do you mean by “the fault could also lie with the unions–if they are being unduly recalcitrant.” Did you state in a previous post that you deal in contract negotiations involving nurses? If so, do you take umbrage with unions? Recalcitrant can be construed as being a slight. For many, it is their knee jerk reaction to stigmatize unions as being problematic and unruly.
Thank you, Jason. The notion that all 17 unions are “recalcitrant” is preposterous. Some unions haven’t even begun negotiations.
@Jane Frantz – It looks like Paul said just what you’re saying, though in a more measured way.
Thanks, @Jerry. @jason and @Jane, please read the whole sentence before you jump to a conclusion about what I was saying. I don’t take umbrage with unions. I had very cordial relationships with the unions that represented staff workers at the MWRA and at Harvard, and I signed the largest project labor agreement in Massachusetts when I ran the multi-billion dollar Boston Harbor Cleanup project. Why not read the whole comment and understand that it is supportive of the point that these contracts should be expeditiously resolved, rather than tripping over the first portion of one sentence that starts with the word “theoretically” and ends with “unlikely.”
Paul and Jerry,
I read the whole sentence. Paul, would you use the word recalcitrant to describe the School Committee’s part in this process? The term has a negative connotation. Therefore, I was curious to understand your stance on unions. I am not making an accusation, but I am curious if there is some bias on your part. There is a historical precedent for unions to be painted in an unfavorable light. The Janus Case decision has union busters smiling from coast-to-coast.
Ok, @jason, you pick a word that doesn’t offend your sensibilities, e.g. “stubborn,” “unyielding,” or whatever. Of course, they are all negative words; but the context in any case is a sentence that raises a possibility and then dismisses it. I did so because I thought there might be readers who would say something like, “It takes two to tango; so the unions are probably at fault in some measure, too.” I didn’t say that, or imply it, or suggest it.
I think it is very hard to look at my entire comment and attribute to it any bias. It is interesting to me that you take a comment that is quite supportive of the need to resolve these contracts and turn it around to suggest anti-union bias on my part. I’d have thought you would be recognizing allies, not trying to push people away.
Paul,
I am not turning this into an exercise of dissecting the minutia of what you stated. You want to define it as me pushing people away, yet I am questioning the term that you chose to use. The way you framed your point is open to interpretation. My inquiry about your stance on unions was sincere. Again, would you use that same word to describe the School Committee? One’s choice of words can speak volumes, particularly pertaining to particular topics. If I am wrong, then so be it.
Paul,
I did some research, and what came up is that you had adversarial relations with SEIU. You were in opposition to their attempts to unionize BIDMC folks. Is it fair to say that you are a union buster?
Paul – You used a loaded word, then react when others object to its use. You also didn’t dismiss the idea that 17 unions were being “recalcitrant”; you said it was “unlikely”. Jerry – there’s nothing measured about that word.
The issue isn’t whether something is wrong with the 17 unions. The problem is that the city/school employees are very low on the city’s list of priorities.
@jason and Jane, you’ve certainly hijacked this set of comments to make the story about me instead of what was a pretty compelling case that the current situation with regard to these unfinished contracts is not acceptable. In your zeal to engage in that personal issue, you seem to have missed the point that we are allies on that issue.
@jason, you don’t need to do much research to know that the SEIU ran a multi-million dollar corporate campaign against my hospital for over 5 years to try to get me and the board of trustees to agree to an undemocratic form of labor organizing. I wrote about it extensively on my blog and afterwards. A little more research would show, as I mentioned, that I signed the largest project labor agreement in MA history when I was in charge of the Boston Harbor cleanup, a step that was opposed by non-union contractors and that was finally adjudicated in our favor by the US Supreme Court. And even more research would show that I had extremely cordial relationships with the HUCTW when I was Dean for Administration at Harvard Medical School; and with the MWRA’s employee unions when I ran that agency.
So now can we all get back to the original theme?
Paul,
Thank you for elucidating this matter regarding your work with unions. As a side note, one of the areas, where I struggle, is there are always two sides to every story. I gain nothing by perseverating on this point, but I find it troubling how often the narrative is hijacked by those in power. Your use of an emotionally charged word struck me as antagonistic. Negotiations of this sort are commonly adversarial in tone, involve a lot of finger-pointing, and are rife with tension. The trend is now for these contract negotiations to be a long, tedious, laborious, time-consuming process. What has created this stagnation? Parents demand that their children receive a top-notch education and NPS educators live up to these expectations. The SC needs to provide parity with surrounding districts. NPS salaries pale in comparison to several surrounding districts. What needs to change for a contract to be agreed upon? I am all ears and would be intrigued to hear your thoughts.