Tewksbury School Committee Publishes Union Bargaining Records

TEWKSBURY, MA — The Tewksbury School Committee shared nearly 200 pages of negotiations with the Tewksbury Teachers Association Friday after both sides agreed to make bargaining public.

Committee Vice-Chair Shannon Demos said at a December meeting that the committee would like to waive the rule after the union "published information concerning our negotiations."

On Jan. 7, the union reached an agreement with Committee Chair Keith Sullivan Friday and soon after published its version of five sticking points in the negotiations.

Sullivan responded with a brief statement at the committee's meeting Jan. 12, then the district posted 186 pages of emails and draft proposals on its website Friday. The documents include the committee's final pre-mediation proposal, sent on Oct. 18, a request to jointly request state mediation and the two sides' latest salary proposals.

"This committee is committed to bargaining in good faith," Sullivan said. "The district bargaining team has not walked away from the table."

According to the documents, at a September meeting, the union requested $1.3 million in additional salary spending beyond the agreed-upon 2.25 percent annual raise.

"When we asked for them to come back with something significantly less due to our financial constraints, the union then countered an increase, not a decrease," Sullivan said. "On Oct. 15 we presented an updated proposal that included approximately three hundred thousand dollars in new additional money and asked that the Tewksbury Teachers Association bring that last and final offer to its membership for a ratification vote."

After that point, the emails show, the union asked for more negotiations. The district requested mediation from the state Nov. 1.

Sullivan said the salary component is "equitable in relation to the contracts offered and approved by other unionized town employees."

"In exchange, our one ask is that K through 4 teachers and aides perform lunch and recess coverage similar to what is currently being done by all grade 5 through 12 teachers and aides," the committee chair said.

The union opposed that request on the grounds that K through 4 teachers have less prep time than teachers of other grades, union President Conner Bourgoin told Patch.

According to the documents, the final School Committee salary proposal in October included $2.8 million in new money, versus $4.1 million in the final union proposal in September. The difference is in the size of pay hikes in Fiscal Years 2023 and 2024 for teachers who have been with the district for eight or more years.

The full documents are available here. The School Committee meeting can be viewed here on TewksburyTV.

Christopher Huffaker can be reached at 412-265-8353 or [email protected].