After 10 long months of negotiations, the educators in Chelsea will no longer be working without a contract.
At a negotiation session last week with over 200 members in attendance, the Chelsea Teachers Union (CTU) Local 1340 secured new, three-year collective bargaining agreements for their members that take important steps to address essential classroom issues while ensuring these dedicated educators are on track to receive a living wage and equitable workplace benefits.
“The consequences of this agreement will be transformative, providing greater stability and support for our educators and our students. This is a win for the entire Chelsea community, and we couldn’t have done it without the sustained organizing and solidarity of educators, families, and community members,” said CTU President Kathryn Anderson.
The agreement includes competitive wage increases for all educators, including the largest wage increase for paraprofessionals that the district has ever seen. Paraprofessionals currently receiving $17.96 an hour will see a 62 percent pay increase over the course of the three-year contract, up to $29.05 per hour. Clerks will see a 31 percent increase over the life of the contract – going from $27.99 to $36.61 per hour.
It also includes the first district-paid parental leave benefit (three weeks the first year of the contract and then six weeks in subsequent years), as well as up to 12 weeks paid leave for members to care for ill family members and up to 35 days from the sick bank.
“Our priorities were living and competitive wages, humane leave policies, and equitable working and learning conditions. Not only did we achieve these priorities, we became so much stronger as a Union,” continued Anderson.
Key provisions of this historic agreement center around supporting not only educators, but the entire Chelsea community, its students, and families.
The contract establishes an alumni hiring incentive to empower Chelsea Public Schools (CPS) graduates to stay in the community as educators. The CTU joins just a handful of other local American Federation of Teachers Massachusetts unions across the state in securing new class size and caseload limits, an important step to ensure educators can provide the attention and specialized support their students need to thrive.
“We’re not just educators, we’re also community members – nearly 20 percent of our members call Chelsea home and this agreement reflects that. It makes it possible for members to start families and take enough time to bond with their babies. It will mean being able to care for sick family members. It incentivizes former CPS students like me to become teachers,” said CTU Vice President and CPS Graduate Vanesa Mendoza-Mercado. “When educators are able to bring our full selves to the classroom, students benefit.”
“For the first time, Chelsea’s paraprofessionals will receive a living wage – because teachers and clerks stood firmly with the paras as a united front,” said Marilyn Moschella, CTU Paraprofessional Vice President and CPS Graduate. “Paras are unsung heroes of the classroom, providing a foundation for students of all abilities to learn. The new competitive wages in this agreement will make a huge difference for all members, and will attract great educators to the district. The level of solidarity – from our teachers, clerks, and families – is what helped get this monumental agreement over the finish line.”
“As a parent, I see the work our educators put in each and every day to support the kids in Chelsea, including mine. I was proud to support the Chelsea Teachers Union every step of the way to secure better learning conditions for all, and the wages and benefits our educators deserve. At the end of the day, they were fighting for our families just as much as they were fighting for theirs,” said Brianna Bolland-Peterson, a CPS graduate with children at Kelly Elementary and Wright Science and Technology Academy.
Since February 2024, the CTU spent 42 hours at the bargaining table over fourteen sessions. The full membership of the CTU will meet this evening to vote to ratify the agreements.