News

February 8, 2008

Catholic teachers to take rally south

Reps from several unions plan to attend to support Scranton Diocese teachers’ right to unionize.

By Mark Guydish mguydish@timesleader.com
Education Reporter
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SCRANTON – The fight to unionize Diocese of Scranton Catholic school teachers is heading south Sunday – to St. Charles Seminary in Wynnewood, west of Philadelphia. A rally is slated, with representatives from the national, Philadelphia and New Jersey Catholic teachers’ unions expected to attend.

Why Wynnewood? A press release notes that Martino, former auxiliary bishop of Philadelphia, “resides at St. Charles Seminary during the weekend.”

The union has been pushing Martino to reverse a decision announced Jan 24 that rejected unionization and implemented an “Employee Relations Program” instead.

Sunday’s rally, beginning at 1 p.m., is to include members from the National Association of Catholic School Teachers, the Philadelphia Association of Catholic Teachers, the Scranton Diocese Association of Catholic School Teachers, and members of the Catholic Teachers Union of New Jersey.

The Scranton Diocese Association has sought recognition as the sole representative for area teachers since the diocese announced in 2006 that it would restructure the entire Catholic school system, eliminating the local school boards that had allowed unionization. Four regional boards were formed, and those boards rejected calls to unionize.

The union held a rally outside Martino’s Scranton residence last month, then released a letter it had sent to Martino asking him to reverse his decision and allow teachers to vote by secret ballot on unionization. The union also released a letter from the diocese rejecting the request.

The union contends the diocese is disregarding its own “Policy number 417,” which says “Catholic social teaching strongly supports the rights of lay teachers to organize and bargain collectively.”

But the diocese has insisted that the new program allows school employees to elect their own representatives onto new “Employee Councils” that will deal with issues including wages, benefits and grievances, and that the system is fair to all employees and in keeping with the diocesan goal of making sure Catholic education affordable.

ON THEWEB

Read the press release at www.timesleader.com

Mark Guydish, a Times Leader staff writer, may be reached at 829-7161.

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