PITTSFIELD, Mass. — The School Committee and the Pittsfield Federation of School Employees Local 1315 have filed for mediation after failing to come to an agreement over the past year.
The union, which represents support staff including bus drivers, cafeteria works and paraprofessionals, has been negotiating a new three-year collective bargaining agreement since last summer. The current agreement expired in August 2021.
Union members attended the School Committee's budget meeting on March 30 to push for better pay and working conditions. The union is asking that support staff be allocated more than $600,000 over the next three years for wage increases.
School Committee Vice Chair Daniel Elias, who chairs the negotiations subcommittee, said in a statement that "the School Committee has concluded that the assistance of a mediator at this stage of bargaining will help us reach a settlement that is both fair to our employees and cognizant of the committee's responsibilities over the three years we expect the final agreement to cover."
The mediation is being sought through the state's Department of Labor Relations.
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Social Service Organizations Highlight Challenges, Successes at Poverty Talk
By Brittany PolitoiBerkshires Staff
Dr. Jennifer Michaels of the Brien Center demonstrates how to use Narcan. Easy access to the drug has cut overdose deaths in the county by nearly half.
PITTSFIELD, Mass. — Recent actions at the federal level are making it harder for people to climb out of poverty.
Brad Gordon, executive director of Upside413, said he felt like he was doing a disservice by not recognizing national challenges and how they draw a direct line from choices being made by the Trump administration and the challenges the United States is facing.
"They more generally impact people's ability to work their way out of poverty, and that's really, that's really the overarching dynamic," he said.
"Poverty is incredibly corrosive, and it impacts all the topics that we'll talk about today."
His comments came during a conversation on poverty hosted by Berkshire Community Action Council. Eight local service agency leaders detailed how they are supporting people during the current housing and affordability crisis, and the Berkshire state delegation spoke to their own efforts.
The event held on March 27 at the Berkshire Athenaeum included a working lunch and encouraged public feedback.
"All of this information that we're going to gather today from both you and the panelists is going to drive our next three-year strategic plan," explained Deborah Leonczyk, BCAC's executive director.
The conversation ranged from health care and housing production to financial literacy and child care. Participating agencies included Upside 413, The Brien Center, The Food Bank of Western Massachusetts, MassHire Berkshire Career Center, Berkshire Regional Transit Authority, Greylock Federal Credit Union, Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts, and Child Care of the Berkshires.
The federal choices Gordon spoke about included allocating $140 billion for the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, investing $38 billion to convert warehouses into detention centers, cutting $1 trillion from Medicaid over 10 years, a proposed 50 percent increase in the defense budget, and cutting federal funding for supportive housing programs.
Gordon pointed to past comments about how the region can't build its way out of the housing crisis because of money. He withdrew that statement, explaining, "You know what? That's bullshit, actually."
"I'm going to be honest with you, that is absolute bullshit. I have just observed over the last year or so how we're spending our money and the amount of money that we're spending on the federal side, and I'm no longer saying in good conscience that we can't build our way out of this," he said.
Upside 413 provided a "Housing Demand in Western Massachusetts" report that was done in collaboration with the University of Massachusetts at Amherst's Donahue Institute of Economic and Public Policy Research. It states that around 23,400 units are needed to meet current housing demand in Western Mass; 1,900 in Berkshire County in 2025.
