NTA Convocation Boycott Constitutes Illegal Strike, but Silent Meetings Are Permitted.
On September 26, the Commonwealth Employment Relations Board (“CERB”) issued a ruling in response to the School Committee’s September 5 petition to the Massachusetts Department of Labor Relations regarding recent actions by the Newton Teachers Association. The 45-page ruling and discussion determined that the August 29 boycott of Superintendent Anna Nolin’s back-to-school convocation to be an “unlawful strike.” The ruling stated that “when the Superintendent issued a directive stating that attendance at the convocation event was expected, their subsequent boycott constituted an unlawful refusal to report to duty.”
In the same ruling, however, CERB declined to equate the NTA’s present work-to-rule contract actions — specifically its request that teachers do not verbally participate in administration-led meetings — as also constituting an illegal strike. CERB wrote: “…when an employer fails to establish, communicate, and/or enforce rules governing the duties employees are obligated to perform, employees or unions who withhold or urge or condone the withholding of these services have not engaged in an illegal work stoppage…”
While the ruling issued an Order for the NTA to cease and desist any “strike, work stoppage, slowdown, or other withholding of services…”, given the convocation boycott is in the past, it is unclear which, if any, of the NTA’s work-to-rule actions may require modification in the immediate future.
There is a public School Committee meeting Wednesday night at 6:30PM.
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