Harder Than Finding a Righteous Man in Sodom

Below is an update we received from one of our brothers in the labor movement attempting to organize nurses at a system of Catholic hospitals in California.

With Labor Day approaching, and with the ink not yet dry on the US Catholic Bishops Annual Labor Day Statement (see posting from August 19), the incredible hypocrisy being demonstrated by the Church in our situation in Scranton and out in California should cause one to pause and wonder.

These days the likelihood of finding a Church institution that is willing to follow its own teachings on social justice is becoming harder than Abraham finding a righteous man in Sodom.

In recent days, the New York Times and the Los Angeles Times brought national media attention to the aggressive anti-union actions of the St. Joseph Health System, where workers are fighting to unionize with SEIU United Healthcare Workers-West. The St. Joseph Health System, which is run by the Sisters of St. Joseph of Orange, is a $3.7 billion corporation that employs more than 10,000 staff in nine hospitals across California.

In July, healthcare workers, religious leaders and community supporters conducted a weeklong series of vigils and actions, which culminated in a thousand-person march to the sister’s Mother House, where workers were joined by numerous religious and civic leaders including Dolores Huerta, Monsignor Eugene Boyle and California Attorney General Jerry Brown. Go to www.voiceatsaintjoes.org to view a video of the week’s events.

Days later, the National Labor Relations Board announced the results of a four-month investigation at one SJHS hospital. Federal officials charged the hospital with widespread violations of federal labor law involving 18 of the hospital’s managers in 35 separate incidents, including:

• Photographing and videotaping union supporters as they talked to co-workers outside the hospital
• Interrogating employees about their support for the union
• Calling the police on union supporters to create the impression that lawful union activities were illegal
• Physically blocking employees from handing out their union newsletter to co-workers outside the hospital.
  

Coverage of these events by the New York Times and the Los Angeles Times have brought broad attention to SJHS’s actions. Here are links to some of the recent articles:

New York Times – Theology Finds Its Way Into a Debate Over Unions
Los Angeles Times - Sisters of St. Joseph of Orange not siding with healthcare workers union
Orange County Register - The sisters have remained deaf to the collective voice of their workers

Thus far, leaders of the St. Joseph Health System continue to refuse workers’ request to sit down and negotiate fair, enforceable ground rules for secret-ballot union elections to ensure that workers can make a choice about unionization without interference from their supervisors, managers and anti-union consultants. This approach, which follows the recommendations of a USCCB working paper entitled “A Fair and Just Workplace: Principles and Practices for Catholic Health Care,” has already been adopted by many of California’s largest hospital companies, including Catholic Healthcare West, Kaiser Permanente, HCA and Tenet Healthcare. Workers simply request that SJHS adopt this same, sensible approach in order to ensure a free and fair union election process. Last week, workers delivered 6,000 postcards signed by community members calling on the Sisters to adopt this approach.

Fred Seavey
SEIU UHW

House debates religious schools’ labor union role

The following article appeared in the Scranton Times Tribune, August 19, 2008:

House debates religious schools’ labor union role

HARRISBURG — The showdown over a union for teachers in the Diocese of Scranton shifted Monday to a Capitol hearing room.

HARRISBURG — The showdown over a union for teachers in the Diocese of Scranton shifted Monday to a Capitol hearing room.

A bill giving lay teachers and employees of private religious schools the right to join collective bargaining units was debated for five hours at a House Labor Relations Committee hearing.

Rep. Eddie Day Pashinski, D-121, introduced the measure several months ago as members of the Scranton Diocese Association of Catholic Teachers picketed and staged work stoppages to protest a diocese decision not to recognize them as a collective bargaining unit.

The labor dispute came after the restructuring process in 2006-07 that reduced the number of schools in the Diocese of Scranton. The diocese announced last January it would not recognize the diocese association and announced instead the formation of employee relations councils.

Bill’s provisions

Mr. Pashinski’s bill would allow lay teachers and employees at religious schools to decide by a majority vote in a secret ballot if they want to be represented by a union. Unions in religious schools could bring grievances to the Pennsylvania Labor Relations Board under the bill. The board would be prohibited from issuing decisions that define or interpret a religious school’s doctrine or change a religious school’s organizational structure.

Mr. Pashinski told panel members he hopes to strike a balance between employee rights and the protection of religious doctrines through the legislation.

Representatives of both sides in the Scranton education dispute — the teachers association and top diocesan officials — staked out opposing positions on the legislation.

Key themes in the testimony involve extending the constitutional right of assembly to religious school teachers, carrying out the mission of Catholic education and maintaining separation between church and state.

Milz testifies

In his testimony, Michael Milz, the diocese association president, said enactment of the legislation will give association members access to the right of association and freedom of speech.

“We ask for the same rights as all workers, nothing more and nothing less,” he added. “We ask for your relief.”

Diocesan officials cited the need to protect the identity of Catholic schools as one reason for their opposition to the bill.

The bill is unnecessary and dangerous, said Mary Tigue, assistant superintendent of schools.

“When you insert yourself into the life of a Catholic school as this legislation does, it is going to cause problems,” she added.

Several members of the evangelical community spoke against the legislation as well. They said it’s difficult to draw a distinction as the bill does between church officials and lay teachers at many private religious schools.

The bill will harm the wall of separation between church and state and undercut the authority of church schools, said Gregory Reed, who described himself as a lay person in an evangelical community in Snyder County.

The committee will hold additional hearings on the bill in Philadelphia and Pittsburgh.

Many have offerings for, against Catholic teachers

The following article appeared in the Wilkes-Barre Times Leader, August 19, 2008:

Many have offerings for, against Catholic teachers

Hearing opens for bill that would strengthen teachers’ labor rights.

HARRISBURG -- The legislator and the evangelicals fired dueling Bible verses. Canon law clashed with civil law. Olive branches were tentatively tossed, but it was hard to tell if there were really any takers.

And state AFL-CIO President Bill George lit up a talk-weary room with his patented zeal but poured that passion into mostly empty seats.

The state House of Representatives Labor Relations Committee held a hearing Monday on House Bill 2626 – which would give Catholic school teachers legal protection they currently lack – with an agenda of speakers longer than the time allotted: 18 people were expected to give about 200 pages of printed testimony in about 10 minutes per person.

Slated to last from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m., the hearing fell off schedule quickly.

The bill would amend the Pennsylvania Labor Relations Act to expressly cover Catholic – and other private school -- teachers, allowing them to appeal to the state Labor Relations Board when denied a chance to unionize. State Rep Eddie Day Pashinski, D-Wilkes-Barre, introduced the bill in response to the battle to unionize Diocese of Scranton teachers.

Pashinski led off the testimony by touting the bill as an effort to help “an entire class of workers falling through legal loopholes.” The State Supreme Court has ruled that Catholic teachers aren’t covered by the law.

Committee member Daryl Metcalfe, R-Butler County, questioned the potential for strikes at private schools, noting many people look to them “for a strike-free education.” Pashinski said the amendment doesn’t interfere with the negotiations, it only gives teachers the choice to unionize or not.

National Association of Catholic Teachers President Rita Schwartz and local union president Michael Milz – the man who has spearheaded the union drive since the diocese denied unionization in January – repeated their contention that non-unionized teachers have no legal recourse when treated unfairly. Milz claims he was “fired” from the diocese of Scranton because of his union activity, a charge the diocese has rigorously denied.

Robert O’Hara, executive director of the Pennsylvania Catholic Conference – a public affairs arm of the group representing dioceses throughout the state – said there is no way to separate the religious ministry of teachers from the secular matters covered by the bill. Attorney Phillip Murren warned that, as a result, the state would inevitably get tangled in religion issues.
Four representatives of Evangelic organizations noted their faith requires any disputes be resolved among their congregations. Jonathan Lucas cited New Testament passages from Corinthians, and Timothy.

Committee member Frank Andrews Shimkus, D-Scranton, noted he is an ordained minister, and fired back with his own citations from Timothy and Romans that he claimed bolstered the union argument for government intervention, but Lucas countered with a quote from Acts.

Former Kingston resident and counsel for the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops Mark Chopko gave a multipronged argument that the bill would violate the U.S. Constitution. Attorney Bruce Endy countered with legal citations of his own that he claimed proved the bill would pass Constitutional muster.

The Very Rev. William King argued the bill would clash with Church Canon Law, noting that civil courts have deferred to church tribunals on religious matters.

Joseph Fahey from Catholic Scholars for Worker Justice argued the diocese was violating the Catholic Church’s long-standing teachings supporting unions, but University of Scranton theology professor James Benestad made an equally detailed argument denying that claim.

Diocese of Scranton Catholic Schools Secretary Joseph Casciano and Human Resources Director James Burke said the diocese has gone to great lengths to be fair to school workers through the new Employee Relations Plan. Burke urged the legislators to talk to employees, and though Pashinski said he would like that, no firm responses were made. Pashinski also offered to sit with diocese and union officials to work out an agreement, but that offer generated no firm response.

By the time George spoke, the clock neared 6 p.m. and the crowd had thinned to a handful. George launched into passionate defense of organized labor, dismissed all the sophisticated arguments and said it boils down to one question on unionization.

“Do we have the right or don’t we have the right?”

After adjournment, Pashinski said the length of the hearing would not deter him, and that he wants to schedule a second hearing as soon as possible.

US Conference of Catholic Bishops Issue Annual Labor Day Statement

Labor Day Statement
An American Catholic Tradition
Most Reverend William F. Murphy
Bishop of Rockville Centre
Chairman, Committee on Domestic Justice and Human Development
United States Conference of Catholic Bishops

September 1, 2008

The late Msgr. George G. Higgins was a remarkable priest whose primary work for many years was connecting the Church and the labor movement around Catholic teaching on worker rights. One of his many contributions was to offer an annual Labor Day statement on issues of work and economic justice. This American Catholic tradition has been continued by the bishop chairman of the Conference committee that works on economic issues. As the new Chairman of the Committee on Domestic Justice and Human Development for the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, I take up this task with some trepidation but with a desire to begin by paying homage to my friend of many years, Msgr. George Higgins.

Msgr. Higgins was a powerful bridge between the Catholic Church and the labor movement. He was a realist, but a hopeful one. Monsignor was irascible and rather confident in his opinions as well as in his convictions of what needed to be done. To his very core, he believed that workers were best served by joining together with other workers in a union. I suspect he would have had some trenchant comments about the situation of workers and wages, working conditions, and the changing face of work in a globalized marketplace. While he would have waxed eloquent about the “big picture,” his goal would never stray from an extraordinary ability to measure the large economic issues by their impact on the average working man and woman.

Monsignor would have been harsh in his judgment about the greed and irresponsibility that led to the mortgage foreclosure crisis. He would have had some caustic comments on the price of gas for the working person and its impact on family life. He would have kept a keen eye on the cost of living and its effect on family budgets, on the real value of current wages to buy necessities, and on the challenges to our economy to diversify without losing sight of its traditional strengths and opportunities. Monsignor would have pointed out the lack of union representation in so many of the emerging industries and workplaces where exploitation has been most evident. He would have applauded any and every new initiative that brings labor leadership, management, and related interested parties together as "intermediate institutions" in our society that would be based on mutual respect. He would recognize that such respect furthers the good of the worker, the enterprises involved, and the common good.

Above all Msgr. Higgins would be concerned about the worker, the person, and the family whose daily lives are affected by a host of factors. He would weigh up and measure all those factors by their overall impact on human beings. And then he would have offered a couple of basic suggestions that would move beyond hand wringing and negative assessments. Monsignor would re-assert his faith in a nation and a people whose creative energies and productive capacities should and would move us to a healthier economic situation. He would urge us to remember that in a world of globalized activities, Catholic Social Teaching still offers one of the best ways to assess whether the human person is the center of economic life or whether workers who are poor and marginalized are forgotten.

A Nation Blessed

We are a nation blessed with extraordinary natural and human resources. We have great economic capacity and creativity. We have extraordinary economic power and responsibility.

And, we are free! We all know we face challenges. But when did our nation not have challenges?

Where does it say that we should simply be recipients of the goods of this earth without working for them, without earning them? Creativity and initiative are as much essential elements of our lives today as they have been in the past. This freedom of creative initiative and energy needs to
be tempered by a deep sense of responsibility for one another, for our planet, and for the future. The more we exercise self control in our possession and use of the goods of this earth, sharing
with others opportunities as well as products, the less need we will have for the kinds of regulatory laws that become necessary when economic privateers and profit seeking pirates take over whole areas of our economy.

We are a nation committed to both economic freedom and economic justice. But that cannot mean freedom for me and justice for me alone. The classic linking of the human person with the common good teaches us that we have to use our freedom and creativity not just for ourselves and those we care for. It must extend to all those who are affected by our actions and by society’s goals. That means everybody in today’s globalized world.

A Globalized World

All these challenges and questions are framed in a new light with new dimensions in this age of globalization. The world of work is different than in years past. Finance, production, trade, and labor are no longer local, regional, or national entities, but global. Of itself globalization is a neutral fact. It depends on who takes advantage of the current global economy and how it is put to use. Our present Holy Father Benedict XVI has suggested that this process offers “the hope of wider participation in development” but warns against its risks of “worsening economic inequality.” (May 26, 2007).

Here, two interrelated principles of Catholic Social Teaching come into play. The principle of subsidiarity champions the freedom of initiative that allows everyone scope and opportunity to be creative and productive and reap the benefits of hard work and energy. When taken to the extreme, it can become exploitive of others. Yet joined to the principle of solidarity, subsidiarity and all its creative impulses become harnessed to an end that includes the makers of a vibrant economy. This links their work into a set of relationships bringing new opportunities to one another across political and social divisions and especially across the great divide between rich and poor. Let interdependence become the “solidarity” of neighbor to neighbor in such a way that the subsidiarity of free creativity builds up and offers new possibilities for all neighbors, especially the poor and the vulnerable. The Church continues to echo the call of Pope John Paul II to “globalize solidarity.”

Catholic Social Teaching

The tradition of Catholic Social Teaching has much to offer in these tough economic times. In the midst of the transformation of society during the Industrial Revolution, Pope Leo XIII gave us enduring principles to deal with “new things” in his prophetic encyclical Rerum Novarum. Pope John Paul II and Pope Benedict XVI have made the cause of justice for workers their own, responding to the “new things” in economic life. When Pope John Paul II issued his first “social encyclical,” Laborem Exercens, in 1981, he invited us to look at these issues from the perennial viewpoint of the value of human work which finds its intrinsic meaning in the dignity of the worker.

Msgr. Higgins applauded this teaching of the Holy Father. He saw it as a papal clarion call for all the issues he championed in his own life. He was right because they are all the values stemming from the truth about the inherent dignity and value of the human person that lies at theheart of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. The Church continues to focus on the dignity of the worker as the key to the question of work and as the cornerstone of Catholic teaching on economic life. Our challenge is to assess our “new things” by the application of traditional moral principles expressed in Catholic Social Teaching that continue to have remarkable meaning and relevance to us as we celebrate Labor Day 2008.

Labor Day and Politics

This year, we will choose a new president, as well as one-third of the Senate, all the members of the House of Representatives, and myriad state and local officials. The campaign has already been long and, for many, arduous. What can I as a bishop add to this without echoing what has been said better by others? Msgr. Higgins would urge you to look beyond the slogans and the promises. He would ask you to assess the candidates' backgrounds and records. He would have a few choice words for those he deemed unworthy or neglectful of the rights of workers and the role of unions. But he would always insist on some basic principles that we all must follow.

The Bishops of the United States have put forth for Catholics and non-Catholics alike some basic principles to consider. In publishing the new and, I believe, challenging statement, Forming Consciences for Faithful Citizenship, we bishops call Catholics to be active and informed participants in political life. We do not seek to impose or imply a preference for one candidate over another. We do propose what is incumbent on all men and women of good will: the formation of a correct conscience based on the truth about the human person and human society.

We cannot emphasize this enough. An informed conscience moves beyond personal feelings and
individual popularity. An informed conscience asks first what is right and true. An informed
conscience examines the candidates and the issues from the perspective of human life and dignity, the true good of every human person, the true good of society, the common good of us all in our nation and in this world.

What can I add to that? Never forget that human life is the supreme good in this world. Never forget that human dignity is not an expendable commodity but belongs to everyone without exception. Every day we are pro-life. Every day we are champions of human dignity. Our voices and our votes should shape society by bringing these inalienable truths into every particular proposal and program, every particular candidate’s projects and plans. The Bishops’ statement makes both links and distinctions between the fundamental duty to oppose what is intrinsically evil (i.e., the destruction of unborn life) and the obligation to pursue the common good (i.e., defending the rights of workers and pursuing greater economic justice). I urge you to review and reflect on this challenging call to be salt, light, and leaven in this election year and beyond (see http://www.faithfulcitizenship.org/).

A Catholic Framework

We Catholics have been blessed by a centennial of Catholic Social Teaching. I personally have been privileged to work with three Popes in this field and have been formed by their vision and their teaching. The Church offers this, not just to Catholics, but to all men and women of goodwill. We are convinced that the truths about the human person in society that come to us fromboth reason and revelation must be brought into all the economic, social, civil, political, and
cultural relationships that make up a good society. The human and moral dimensions of economic life are key principles in Catholic thought. Catholic social and moral teaching on these matters offers hope and direction in difficult times. The Compendium of the Social Doctrine of the Church provides us with a summary and synthesis of the Church’s teaching on economic life as well as other aspects of the Catholic social tradition. [See Chapter VI “Human Work” and Chapter VII “Economic Life,” Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace, Compendium of the Social Doctrine of the Church (Washington, DC: USCCB, 2004 )] I recommend it to you.

The bishops of the United States reflect this teaching as they outline key elements of a just
economy in Forming Consciences for Faithful Citizenship. These basics need to be part of the
national discussion as we choose leaders and develop policies for the future:

The economy must serve people, not the other way around. Work is more than a way to make a living; it is a form of continuing participation in God’s creation. Employers contribute to the common good through the services or products they provide and by creating jobs that uphold the dignity and rights of workers—to productive work, to decent and fair wages, to adequate benefits and security in their old age, to the choice of whether to organize and join unions, to the opportunity for legal status for immigrant workers, to private property, and to economic initiative. Workers also have responsibilities—to provide a fair day’s work for a fair day’s pay,
to treat employers and co-workers with respect, and to carry out their work in ways that contribute to the common good. Workers, employers, and unions should not only advance their own interests, but also work together to advance economic justice and the well-being of all. (#52)

Overcoming Poverty

Poverty has many faces. And they are the faces of our brothers and sisters here in our own country and around the world. Whether I am in remote corners of Africa or the streets of Lawrence, Massachusetts, I am convinced that when we face up to the needs of these our brothers and sisters, the challenge of overcoming poverty brings the Catholic community together. The Catholic Church is committed to making her contribution to alleviating the pain of poverty at every level: internationally, nationally, and especially locally through the magnificent endeavors of priests, religious, and laity in our parishes. Things may be tough for an awful lot of us today.

But no matter how difficult it might be for you or me, I believe each of us can name someone we
know who is carrying a greater burden. I can hear Msgr. Higgins telling us “Don’t forget the other guy,” especially the person with less. That person has hopes and dreams, too. That person comes from a family and belongs to our human family. That person has dignity because all of us are created in the image of God.

Let me close by sharing with you some thoughts from Pope Benedict’s powerful
encyclical Deus Caritas Est:

Love of God and love of neighbor have become one: In the least of the brethren we find Jesus himself, and in Jesus we find God….Love for widows and orphans, prisoners, and the sick and needy of every kind is as essential to [the Church] as the ministry of the sacraments and preaching of the Gospel. (# 15, 22)

To one and all, I wish you a most happy and relaxing Labor Day with family and friends. I hope this Labor Day will bring a renewed vigor as we seek to build together a society that cares for its own, reaches out to the poor and vulnerable, and offers true hope to all. Let us share justly and freely the goods of society and advance the good of every person and the common good of all.

Hearing scheduled for HB 2626

On August 18, 2008, the Pennsylvania House of Representatives Labor Relations Committee will hold a hearing on HB 2626 which will amend the Pennsylvania Labor Relations Act to include coverage for the employees of religiously-affiliated schools. The hearing will be held in Harrisburg and will begin at 1:00 PM in Room 140 Main Capitol (Majority Caucus Room).

SDACT urges all of its members and all of those in the community who support our campaign for justice and dignity to contact the members of the Labor Relations Committee, and ask that they vote in favor of moving HB 2626 to the floor of the House of Representatives for consideration by the entire House.

Click on the following link for the names of the members of the Labor Relations Committee. Follow additional links on that page for their contact information. http://www.legis.state.pa.us/cfdocs/cteeInfo/cteeInfo.cfm?cde=26&body=H

Holy Redeemer official in Milz controversy goes to Sem

The following article appeared in the Wilkes-Barre Times Leader, August 5, 2008:

Holy Redeemer official in Milz controversy goes to Sem

WILKES-BARRE – Holy Redeemer High School Academic Vice Principal Robert Beviglia is resigning and going across the river to work at Wyoming Seminary. Beviglia hit the headlines when Catholic teachers union president Michael Milz insisted the vice principal had made statements proving the diocese laid off Milz because of his union activities.

Milz made those claims on July 18, backed by two parents with children at Holy Redeemer. All three said Beviglia had told them things that proved the diocese deliberately targeted Milz, and tried to cover the action by laying off other teachers at the same time, intending to bring one of those laid-off teachers back.

At the time, Beviglia referred all questions to diocese spokesman Bill Genello, and the diocese issued a statement repeating its insistence that Milz, a teacher at Holy Redeemer for 33 years, was laid off due to declining enrollment and because he had lowest seniority in his department, social studies. In July, Holy Redeemer Principal James Redington denied all the allegations leveled by Milz.

On Monday, Beviglia declined comment on his resignation, but Redington confirmed it. “He submitted a very complimentary letter of resignation thanking the entire Holy Redeemer community for the kindness and support we have shown him and his family,” Redington said. “And we thank him as well. I had the opportunity to do that personally this morning.”
Redington said no pressure had been put on Beviglia since July 18, and the resignation had “nothing to do with past developments.

But Milz saw things differently. “I don’t know how he could have continued working at Holy Redeemer, having been the person who exposed the conspiracy that led to my dismissal and to the unnecessary layoff of another teacher. I’m surprised he made it through the past two weeks.”

Milz said he is “happy” Beviglia landed a new position, and that “Bob was somebody of great value to Holy Redeemer and to Catholic education.” Milz repeated his contention that Redington and diocesan Superintendent of Schools Joe Casciano are the ones who should resign, not Beviglia. “We were hoping that he would be the one who remained, the only person who showed a shred of integrity.”

Milz is head of the Scranton Diocese Association of Catholic Teachers, the union that represented many local Catholic teachers until last year, when the diocese restructured the system, taking control of the schools from local boards and parishes and putting them under four regional school boards.

Newspaper strike of 1978 was guided by men of great faith

The following editorial appeared in the Wilkes-Barre Citizens' Voice, August 5, 2008:

Newspaper strike of 1978 was guided by men of great faith

Rev. Dr. Jule Ayers was a courageous man. The Presbyterian minister could have sat in the background and comfortably served his flock in one of downtown Wilkes-Barre’s larger churches. But he spoke out, loudly and often, on what he saw as injustices to the people of all colors, faiths and ethnic backgrounds in his beloved Wyoming Valley.

Thus, it came as no surprise to many when Dr. Ayers publicly chastised Capital Cities Communications, Inc., in the summer of 1978 after the new owners of The Wilkes-Barre Publishing Company installed a fence topped with barbed wire, mounted surveillance cameras and imported hundreds of Wackenhut Corporation guards.

Cap Cities was out to break the newspaper unions. Dr. Ayers spoke out, not necessarily in a pro-union stance. He recognized the rights of labor and management, but he was chagrined at what he saw as an affront to the community, a militant show of force intended to demean and crush working people.

The Citizens’ Voice, the newspaper started by the union employees three days after the strike began on Oct. 6, seized Dr. Ayers’ words and played them on page 1 of the first issue.

I have a very personal attachment to Dr. Ayers. Upon his death in 1994, I was one of four people from the community invited to eulogize this great man. The church was packed, again by his true “flock,’’ people of all colors, faiths and ethnicity. It was an “As ye sow, so shall ye reap’’ moment.

How ironic that 30 years later, Bishop Joseph Martino of the Catholic Diocese of Scranton, has used his office to deny his own lay teachers the right to collective bargaining.

There is yet another faith-based and love-of-neighbor irony. Jim Orcutt, the strike leader dispatched to Wilkes-Barre by The Newspaper Guild, left his full-time job as a labor organizer/negotiator and founded My Brother’s Keeper, a volunteer-based outreach ministry based in Brocton, Mass.

Over its 20-year history, My Brother’s Keeper has made more than 80,000 deliveries of furniture, food and Christmas gifts to families in need. When My Brother’s Keeper makes a furniture delivery, no donation is accepted. Jim or another volunteer presses a small crucifix into the recipient’s hand and tells him or her, “He sent us.’’

It all started with Jim and his wife, Terry, as they watched a television report about a family in need of furniture. “We can help,’’ he said, and they did. Today, 2,000 volunteers staff unmarked trucks that haul donated furniture from a warehouse. When the volunteers began to find family’s hungry, food was added to the My Brother’s Keeper “to-do’’ list. Christmas gifts came next.

Dr. Ayers was influenced by the same tradition, one with roots extending back to the 1902 anthracite strike that brought The Rev. John Joseph Curran of Holy Saviour Church, Wilkes-Barre, and President Theodore Roosevelt to the support of John Mitchell and his mine workers. The Mitchell statue is only a short walk from Bishop Martino’s residence. Maybe he should take an evening stroll to get some inspiration.

Paul Golias, retired managing editor of The Citizens’ Voice, writes a weekly column on regional issues. His column on the first Tuesday of the month through October will be a reflection on the 1978 labor dispute that included start-up of the newspaper. He can be contacted at pgolias@verizon.net

The new Diocesan teachers "contract" - a teaching moment

One of the topics that is covered in every American History class is that of Joseph McCarthy and the use of the "big lie."

During the Cold War era, Senator Joseph McCarthy and his unscrupulous toady, Roy Cohn, would create lies of such enormity, and with such incredible detail, that most reasonable people, unable to believe that such enormous untruthfulness could be manufactured by someone in such an esteemed position, came to the conclusion that McCarthy must be telling the truth. Thus, for a while almost the entire country believed what McCarthy was dishing out.

Stories in the most recent Catholic Light and comments coming from the Diocesan office seem to indicate that Bishop Joseph Martino has taken to the tactics of his namesake, and Bill Genello seems all too eager to emulate Roy Cohn.

In the end, the lies caught up to McCarthy and Cohn and were their undoing. And the rest, as they say, is history.

So we'll leave it to the public to decide the issue about the new teachers' "contract."

• Will they believe that even the mere handful of teachers who cooperated in the immoral company union prefer a three-page "contract" as being offered by the Diocese to the LEGALLY-BINDING forty-page contracts that had covered our unionized teachers up to 2007?
• Will the public believe that teachers don't want due process and union representation?
• Will the public believe that our teachers would not like tenure?
• Will they believe that our teachers don't want their working conditions spelled out in their entirety?
• Will they believe that our teachers desire to be nothing more than at-will employees?

As for those of us who back the SDACT campaign, we'll believe it when they allow our teachers a vote to decide how we wish to be represented.

Teachers union chief blasts diocese contract offer as one-sided

The following article appeared in the Scranton Times Tribune, August 2, 2008:

Teachers union chief blasts diocese contract offer as one-sided

While refusing to work with or recognize its teachers labor union, the Diocese of Scranton has developed a proposed contract for its educators that would govern issues such as sick days and compensation.

The president of the teachers union scoffed at the document Friday.

“It’s not a contract, in any way, shape or form,” said Michael Milz, union president. “It’s nothing we didn’t expect.”

Since the diocese announced earlier this year that it would not recognize the Scranton Diocese Association of Catholic Teachers as a collective bargaining unit, educators have lamented working without a contract. Through the diocesan employee relations program — the diocese’s answer to not having a union — a draft contract was developed and reviewed.

The three-page contract spells out:

■ Length of school year, 185 days.
■ Number of sick days per school year, 10, with a maximum accumulation of 45 days. Employees will not be paid for unused days.
■ Health insurance premium of $80 a month for single coverage or $125 a month for a family plan.
■ A pension plan with a 3 percent of salary contribution from the employee, and a 7 percent contribution from the employer.“We were looking for input from the teachers, and they came up with some very good suggestions that have since been incorporated into the contract,” James Burke, Diocesan director of human resources, was quoted as saying in this week’s edition of the Catholic Light, the diocesan newspaper.

A space for teacher salaries is blank in the contract, and a human resources firm is now analyzing the teacher pay scales.

The contract has been sent to the employee councils for final review, according to the diocese.

Mr. Milz, who was laid off by the diocese in June but continues to be union president, said the document — which he refused to call a contract — was one-sided and incomplete.

Before the diocesan school system was restructured prior to the 2007-08 school year, individual parishes recognized the union.

When the union was recognized, the shortest contract was 40 pages long and included information on tenure and all aspects of working conditions, Mr. Milz said.“It’s a standard type of employee agreement,” Mr. Milz said.

“The employer is dictating the conditions of employment.”

On Friday, the diocese defended the contract, and in a statement called it “one of the results of the fruitful dialogue” taking place between school employees and the diocese.

“When Mr. Milz calls it a sham, he is denigrating his own colleagues,” according to the diocese. “But that’s not surprising, since he previously labeled those who are participating in the employee relations program as ‘poor deluded dupes.’ Apparently, this is how he feels about anyone who disagrees with him or refuses to send him union dues.”

A similar article appeared in the Aug. 2 Wilkes-Barre Citizens' Voice: Milz says proposed contract is one-sided, incomplete

Union blasts diocese contract

The following article appeared in the Wilkes-Barre Times Leader, August 1, 2008:

Union blasts diocese contract

The battle between the Scranton Diocese and the union trying to represent Catholic school teachers heated up sharply Thursday with the diocese announcing a draft contract for teachers that the union said “should never in any way be confused with a real contract.”

Union President Mike Milz also announced Pennsylvania AFL-CIO President Bill George plans to testify at a state House of Representatives hearing Aug. 18 on a bill to amend the Labor Relations Act to cover Catholic teachers.

The diocese posted two statements on the union battle on its Web site, and published them in this week’s The Catholic Light.

One statement noted that the Pennsylvania Labor Relations Board has rejected an effort by Milz to file a complaint contending he was laid off from his job at Holy Redeemer High School in retaliation for union activity.

The other statement detailed progress in its “Employee Relations Program,” including a new draft teacher contract.

The union fired back with a posting on its own Web site, saying the diocesan statement was “full of its regular complements of lies and nonsense,” insisting Milz had filed the complaint knowing it would be rejected, and that the rejection further proves the need to amend the state Labor Relations Act. The diocese statement says the draft contract was drawn up with teacher input, but the union contends “it is nothing more than the standard document presented to all at-will employees.”

A copy of the draft contract, good for one-year, obtained by The Times Leader, leaves blanks for salaries but lists benefits that include: 10 sick days through the 185-day school year accumulated up to 45, four days off with pay for death in the immediate family, health insurance with teachers paying $80 a month for single coverage or $125 for family, and a pension plan with 3 percent teacher contribution and 7 percent paid by the diocese.

In its statements, the diocese repeats its insistence that Milz and others were laid off based on seniority because of declining enrollment, and that the Employee Relations Program provides “regular dialogue between the diocese and all school employees.”

The statements also say that the state Labor Relations Board’s rejection of Milz complaint bolsters the diocesan argument that amending the law could create “serious religious freedom and constitutional consequences.”

The union, however, counters by repeating its claim that a Holy Redeemer vice principal confirmed Milz was fired in retaliation for his union actions, that those who deny that will eventually be forced to testify in court, and that the whole episode proves the need for the state law amendment.