Somerville Ratifies New Contract For School Custodians

The deal is effective through 2028.

By Benjamin Pierce, Patch Staff

Jul 27, 2026 1:49 PM EDT

SOMERVILLE, MA — School custodians will receive raises, expanded benefits and new staffing provisions under a three-year contract between the city and the union representing the workers, Mayor Jake Wilson announced recently.

The Memorandum of Agreement between the City of Somerville and SEIU Chapter 3, which represents Somerville Public Schools custodians, covers fiscal years 2026 through 2028. The agreement was ratified by the union and Wilson in June and became effective after the Somerville City Council approved a $77,400 appropriation to fund the contract during its July 9 meeting.

According to the mayor's office, the agreement includes wage adjustments in fiscal year 2026 to bring school custodians' pay into alignment with custodians who work in other city buildings, addressing a longstanding pay disparity between the two groups. The contract also provides 2 percent cost-of-living increases in fiscal years 2027 and 2028, accelerates vacation time accrual rates, and includes changes intended to improve staffing flexibility within Somerville Public Schools.

Those operational changes include the addition of floater positions and the creation of new work shifts designed to provide better coverage between the end of the school day and after-school programming, when custodial needs often shift from classroom support to preparing buildings for evening activities and community use.

"Day in and day out, our school custodians keep our school buildings healthy, safe, and functioning so our educators and students can focus on what they are there to do: teach and learn," Wilson said in a statement. "I'm grateful to SEIU Chapter 3 and our City team for negotiating the strong, fair contract that our custodians and families deserve, and to the City Council for their support."

Councilor-at-Large Jon Link, who chairs the City Council's School Buildings Facilities and Maintenance Committee, said the agreement not only provides higher wages, expanded benefits and worker protections for custodians but also gives the city greater flexibility to deploy staff where they are needed most throughout the school day.

"Crucially, it also gives the city the staffing flexibility to put people where they're needed most, when they're needed most, which is exactly what parents and schools have been asking for," Link said.

The agreement is one of several labor contracts the city has finalized over the past year as Somerville continues negotiating updated agreements with its municipal unions. School custodians are responsible for maintaining and cleaning the district's school buildings, helping ensure facilities remain safe and operational for students, educators, and community members who use the buildings outside of regular school hours.