Marblehead Teachers To Rally For Paid Parental Leave

MARBLEHEAD, MA — The Marblehead Education Association is one of several North Shore teachers' unions rallying this week to demand that paid parental leave for all education workers be included in the next collective bargaining agreement.

Marblehead teachers plan to rally on Thursday before school at the Village School at 7:15 a.m.

The demonstration comes one day after more than 650 Beverly teachers and paraprofessionals held a rally in that city with similar demands on Wednesday.

(Also on Patch: 'Unconscionable': Marblehead Teachers Push Back On Budget Cuts)

The Marblehead educators are part of a coalition of North Shore teachers' union seeking family and parental leave benefits similar to those granted to private sector employees in the 2018 Massachusetts Paid Family Medical Leave legislation. Public sector employees were excluded from that legislation.

"MEA is working during their contract fight to ensure all members receive a humane, dignified, and modern parental leave benefit — similar to that enjoyed by all other workers," the MEA said in a statement to Patch on Wednesday.

The issue has become a key rallying point for unions amid contract negotiations this spring and was one of those at the focus of the historically long Newton teachers' strike this winter.

Teachers generally have to use sick leave and limited vacation days to make up for the relative lack of paid family leave, with many younger teachers not having accrued the time necessary for what they consider to be adequate time off in the event of a family illness or child's birth.

Others rallies on the North Shore were planned in Gloucester and Revere this week.

(Scott Souza is a Patch field editor covering Beverly, Danvers, Marblehead, Peabody, Salem and Swampscott. He can be reached at Scott.Souza@Patch.com. X/Twitter: @Scott_Souza.)