The chant at Worcester City Hall was loud and consistent: “Negotiate. Vaccinate. Educate.”
Dozens of members of the Educational Association of Worcester rallied Thursday afternoon, saying they wanted to bring the negotiating table to city hall after working through the COVID-19 pandemic for months with expired contracts.
More than just wanting a fair contract, the educators were calling on officials for vaccinations. Though Gov. Charlie Baker announced Wednesday that K-12 employees, early childcare workers and school staff will be eligible for vaccine appointments on March 11, there will be competition to get in line for a shot because of a limited vaccine supply. It means that many Worcester teachers and school staff will have to head back into classrooms for hybrid learning without inoculation.
EAW President Roger Nugent stood at a microphone and asked union members to keep up the momentum.
“We’ve just got to keep it up,” he said. “Keep fighting forward to get all the benefits and the safety and all that we deserve in the schools.”
Contracts expired over the summer. The union claims that the Worcester School Committee has walked away from the bargaining table.
“The Worcester School Committee, Superintendent Maureen Binienda and their bargaining representative have caused unnecessary delays in bargaining successor contracts with EAW members,” the union wrote in a statement Wednesday. “At a scheduled bargaining session on Jan. 26, the School Committee’s bargaining team simply refused to show up. This is both disrespectful to hard-working educators and harmful to students.”
Binienda has not returned calls from MassLive this week.
Worcester has had remote learning since the pandemic erupted last year, but plans are to bring students back into classrooms this month. Students with high needs and New Citizens Center Program students are scheduled to start hybrid learning on March 15. Then on March 29, all other students who want to start hybrid learning will be able to return to classrooms.
Melissa Verdier, a special educator at North High School, EAW executive board member and member of the negotiating team for unit AB, noted that educators have been working without a contract since August despite trying to work with the district.
“In a time that we would never expect, we have continued to go above and beyond on a daily basis to make sure that our students are provided the best education possible during a pandemic,” she said. “We’ve been to mediation, we have not finished at this point still.”
As speakers took to the microphone, a line of cars circled city hall honking.
“We’ve asked tirelessly to be a part of [the] decision-making process,” Verdier said. “We have a wealth of knowledge and experience, which is why we were hired in by the Worcester Public Schools. Talk to us. Make our opinions a priority.”
Verdier called on Binienda, Mayor Joseph Petty and elected officials to work with educators on a vaccination plan.
Previously, Binienda had said she wanted all educators vaccinated before hybrid learning began. That proposal changed in February as the administration and school committee discussed hybrid learning start dates for March, which was before educators knew when they may be able to get immunized.
Betty Santiago, a member of the union’s transportation team, noted that the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education has updated its guidance on school bus transportation, to allow more students on the bus. Santiago said having more students on the bus can create unsafe conditions, especially if people are not vaccinated.
Saul Ramos, the first vice president of the EAW and an education support professional in the public schools, stood at the microphone and told fellow members that he is at high risk for the virus.
“I am returning to our building on Monday. I am high risk. I am not vaccinated and I have not been able to get an appointment and I am scared, just like many of our members are,” Ramos said. “If we would have returned in November or in January as previously planned, I will tell you, I probably would have died already and I know this because the building I work in has had multiple cases of COVID.”
Ramos said that if teachers with health concerns are denied accommodations for COVID-related health concerns, some may need to take unpaid leave.
Tina Mansfield, a bus driver in Worcester, said she came out to city hall because negotiations have not been done in good faith and because she hopes to be vaccinated soon.
“These are our lives,” Mansfield said. “These are our students’ lives.”
Though Worcester schools have been remote thus far, Worcester bus drivers have been at work, transporting students to parochial and collaborative schools.
“We have been working since August and we’ve done everything above and beyond,” Mansfield said. “We have our MOA. It’s ready to be voted on, but the day it’s going to be voted on is the day it expires.”
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