Trades union contract ratified as other school unions renew pleas to School Committee

The School Committee voted at their Sept. 2 meeting to ratify a long-awaited contract with the building trades union, even as members of several other unions pressed the committee for a resolution after 14 months without a contract. 

The agreement with the Massachusetts Laborers’ District Council Local 272, which represents electricians, plumbers, HVAC technicians, carpenters, painters and locksmiths across the district, locks in retroactive and future wage increases. 

Employees will receive back pay amounting to a 2.5% raise effective July 1, 2025, when their last contract expired, and another 2.5% effective July 1, 2026. An additional 2.5% increase is set to kick in on July 1, 2027. 

The new contract creates two wage steps above the previous highest one, and a pay differential of $1,000 for employees holding a master’s license in their trade. It also gives extra vacation days to longer tenured employees.

Five unions remain unsettled

During the public input section, representatives from the Waltham School Secretaries Association and the Waltham School Administrators Association expressed their fatigue and confusion about their own ongoing contract negotiations. 

Valerie Alfeo, the district’s math director and a member of the administrators’ union, noted that in the past three negotiation cycles she’s been a part of, other unions have settled shortly after the Waltham Educators Association. This time, it’s been nearly nine months with no end in sight. 

When the WEA reached their agreement in January, Alfeo said other unions expected quick resolutions. “The remaining months of the school year left us still without a contract, but at least we were meeting,” she said. “So that brings us to summer, where one would also assume that there would be plenty of time to meet, given a slower-demanding schedule. But no, not one union engaged in negotiations.”

Kristine Scheufele, president of the secretaries’ union and a 15-year employee, pointed out that her members have gone 428 days without a contract. She floated a proposal: withhold individually contracted employees’ pay, including Superintendent Marisa Mendonsa’s, until union contracts are settled. 

“We are the backbone of the schools,” Scheufele said. Addressing School Committee members, she stated, “We held signs for you. We’re one Waltham, right?”

Bobby Lyons, an assistant principal at Waltham High School and 2029 class dean, described leaving a well-paid and tenured position in another district to return to his hometown. He said the city’s recent treatment of unions “stood in sharp contrast” to the welcome he said he’d otherwise received from the community when he came back. 

Derek Vandegrift, president of the administrators’ union, agreed that it’s normal for staff to be recognized for years of service and loyalty to Waltham. “Unfortunately, this same message has been absent from our contract negotiations.”

He said it took months to receive a response to the union’s request just to open bargaining back in 2025, and more months after that to receive any substantive financial proposals from the city. Counters from the union often received “flat no’s,” and the city hasn’t shown any willingness to compromise, he said. 

“What has been communicated during this process, intentionally or otherwise, is that our experience is not valued, our institutional knowledge is not considered an asset, and our service, dedication and loyalty to Waltham does not matter,” Vandegrift said. 

All the speakers noted that Sept. 2 was the first day of the school year. They called the day long, glorious, chaotic and wonderful, and were ultimately saddened that they had to end it addressing the School Committee in this way. 

Scheufele implored committee members to take action. “I ask the members of the school committee to do the right thing, to do the Waltham thing, and to demonstrate their commitment to my colleagues and to our schools by offering us a fair contract.”

Mendonsa and human resources director Kate Peretz did not respond to requests for comment.