Will teachers and staff strike a contract deal before summer?

A years-long negotation between the Amherst-Pelham Educators Association (teacher and staff union) and the Amherst School Committee is inching closer to an agreement. 

The School Committee’s most recent proposed offer is a 3% raise each year through the 2024-25 fiscal year.

However, the APEA is making a push for more: a 3%, 3.5%, 4% increase in salary over three years or a continual 3% raise for four years (through the 2025-26 fiscal year). 

In addition, the union wants paraeducators to have a starting pay raised from $17.13 to $20.50/hr, which would amount to roughly $23,349 per year” whereas the School Committee is “proposing that paraeducators start at $18.33/hr or roughly $19,900 per year” as stated by documents released by the union. 

“We are looking for better pay for our lowest payed members, who are paraprofessionals,” said APEA President Lamicko Magee. 

This insistence from the union comes from rising inflation costs and an increased cost of living. Last year’s inflation rate topped 6 percent according to the consumer price index. “Anyone who lives in Amherst knows how expensive it is… unfortunately many of our members in Unit C (the lowest level on the payscale) can’t even afford to live in the place that they work,” said Magee.

Nur Chowdhuri, a paraprofessional at the high school said that with current pay and “the recent inflation, it is extremely difficult to have food on the table.” 

Chowdhuri emphasized the importance of supporting educators. “We are like the backbones of students who are actually going to be the future of the nation. Support means supporting the students also,” she said.

For many paraprofessionals and teachers alike, this contract feels long overdue. “It’s not like we are asking,” said Chowdhuri. “It’s more than asking. This is what we deserve, what everyone deserves, for the work that we do.”