On Wednesday, November 13th, an Essex Superior Court judge started imposing fines on striking teachers in Gloucester, beginning at $50,000 per day, in hopes to convince members to return to their classrooms and stop their illegal work stoppages.
Gloucester is one of the three other North Shore districts dealing with teacher strikes. The financial penalties for the Gloucester Teachers Association could quickly add up under the order issued by Judge Janice W. Howe, calling for the fines to increase each day by $10,000 if the strikes were to continue.
Considering the fact that the Massachusetts state law bans public employee unions from going on strike, Howe issued the fines after the union ignored earlier court orders to call off their strikes. Howe also issued fines against the smaller Gloucester Association of Education Paraprofessionals, starting on the 13th at $15,000 and increasing by $5,000 each day.
Students are finally returning back to school on Monday the 23th. On Friday the 29th, Gloucester’s district – who cut off pay to its striking workers – starting the first day will get their first full paychecks. Teachers, who get paid every other week, negotiated the reinstatement of pay as part of their return-to-work agreement. Ultimately, all the strikes have ended, and Gloucester students are back in school.
