Thursday, 4:30 PM
Quincy teachers' strike enters 3d day
(George Rizer/Globe Staff)
Students joined teachers this morning in a picket line at Quincy High School.
By Peter Schworm and Andrew Ryan, Globe Staff
QUINCY -- A strike entered its third day this morning as teachers defied a court injunction and returned to picket lines in front of the district’s 19 schools in the first teacher strike in Massachusetts in more than a decade.
Negotiating teams for the Quincy Teachers Association and the School Committee held talks until 11:30 p.m. on Monday, remaining at the bargaining for 3 1/2 hours after they had been scheduled to go home for the night.
"We are hopeful. To me, it was a good sign they went past the time last night," said Linda Monaco, a sixth-grade teacher at Sterling Middle School and a union spokeswoman. "Our goal always is to be back in our classrooms as soon as possible."
A phone message left at the Quincy School District headquarters seeking comment was not immediately returned. Talks between the two sides continued today at 10 a.m.
City leaders want to shift some health insurance costs to teachers, who say the higher premiums would wipe out proposed wage hikes. The issue has been the primary sticking point in nearly 30 negotiating sessions in the past 15 months.
City and school officials propose raising teacher salaries by 13 percent over four years but want employees to assume 20 percent, rather than the current 10 percent, of their health coverage costs.
On Monday, a Norfolk County Superior Court judge issued an injunction and warned that the 890-member Quincy Teachers Association could be fined if it defies the order, according to John F. Jesensky, chairman of the state Labor Relations Commission. Teachers' strikes are illegal in Massachusetts. A lawyer for the Quincy School Committee said the board also sought the injunction so it could potentially seek damages against the union.
The school year was slated to end this Friday, but will continue until students have attended the required 180 days.
Teachers, who picketed in Quincy today to protest the stalled negotiations, said the court ruling would not influence contract negotiations or persuade them to return to the classroom.
"I’m standing in front of Quincy High School, and there is tremendous resolve," Monaco said this morning in a telephone interview. "People want a fair contract."
Teachers voted overwhelmingly last Thursday to walk off the job.
Union president Paul Phillips criticized school and city officials Monday for dragging their feet in negotiations, which began 15 months ago.
"It is clear to us that they are more interested right now in punishing the teachers than they are in getting Quincy's students back to school," Phillips said in a statement.
At a press conference Monday in his City Hall office, Mayor William Phelan said he would not accede to the union's demands and urged teachers to return to school while talks continue.
"The law is clear: This is an illegal action," he said. "You have let down the children of the Quincy school system."
As Phelan spoke, more than 100 teachers chanted outside his office, "Tell the truth," and "Phelan is a failure." City officials closed the press conference to the public after teachers filled the conference room and threatened to drown out the mayor's statement.
While most parents appear to support the teachers' cause, Fiona Canavan, copresident of Quincy's Parent Teacher Organization, said that some are growing impatient with the strike. "The longer this goes on, the more their support erodes," she said.
