Two of the three striking teacher unions in Massachusetts have been fined for refusing to return to the classroom.
Judges on Tuesday imposed fines of $50,000 a day for the unions in Beverly and Gloucester that would rise by $10,000 a day as long as they remain on strike. The unions voted Nov. 7 to authorize a strike and schools were closed Friday. Schools remain closed in those districts.
A third district, Marblehead, voted to go on strike Tuesday. It was brought to court Wednesday and could also face similar fines. Strikes by teachers are rare in Massachusetts, partly because state law bans public sector employees from striking.
Smithfield Foods, one of the nation’s largest meat processors, has agreed to pay $2 million to resolve allegations of child labor violations at a plant in Minnesota, officials announced Thursday.
An investigation by the Minnesota Department of Labor and Industry found that the Smithfield Packaged Meats subsidiary employed at least 11 children at its plant in St. James ages 14 to 17 from April 2021 through April 2023, the agency said. Three of them began working for the company when they were 14, it said. Smithfield let nine of them work after allowable hours and had all 11 perform potentially dangerous work, the agency alleged.
The University of St. Thomas announced a landmark gift for the arts on Nov. 14. The $20 million gift from John Monahan ’73 of Palm Springs, California, marks the most significant gift for arts education in the university’s 140-year history.
Monahan’s donation – also matching the largest known public gift to a university for the arts ever received in the state – will enhance arts programming and education at St. Thomas, and particularly across the College of Arts and Sciences (CAS), which serves every undergraduate student at St. Thomas as the university’s liberal arts foundation. All students engage in fine arts and integrated humanities courses as part of the undergraduate core curriculum – an integrated set of courses designed to promote critical thinking and help students look at problems through multiple lenses.
Emmy Schulz can be reached at schu4600@stthomas.edu.