Milz statement on being named 2008 "Person of the Year"

SDACT President Mike Milz released the following statement to the media following the announcement that he was chosen as the Wyoming Valley "2008 Person of the Year":

When first learning that I was among the nominees for CV Wyoming Valley Person of the Year, I was surprised and grateful. Now being told that I have been chosen by the paper’s readers as the winner in such a competition, my reaction is that of utter disbelief.

In looking at the tremendous contributions to the community made by the ten other nominees, I was humbled to have even been listed among them for consideration of this honor. Each of those nominees, through their individual actions or initiative, did something truly remarkable and admirable, things which made a positive impact on life in the Wyoming Valley. On the other hand, I spoke on behalf of many remarkable and admirable people.

The fact is, I don’t believe that those who voted for me were indeed voting for me as an individual. Instead, I believe their votes were a way to show their support for my embattled colleagues – the lay teachers in the schools of the Scranton Diocese who continue to struggle valiantly in their campaign for dignity and justice.

Throughout 2008, the entire community of northeastern Pennsylvania witnessed the callousness with which Bishop Martino treated the teachers in his employ. Regardless of the fact that his brother bishops published a Pastoral Letter in 1986 that proclaimed “No one may deny the right to organize without attacking human dignity itself,” the Bishop made a mockery of that concept by denying to his own workers the right to be represented by a union of their own choosing.

I believe that the voters were also manifesting their support for our teachers’ campaign for the passage of Pennsylvania House Bill 26 (formerly HB 2626). This law will assure teachers in religiously-affiliated schools the simple justice now due them, for they alone are presently denied the protections all other workers enjoy under federal and state labor laws – the right to organize and bargain. Justice cries out for such a measure.

Therefore, I view my selection as merely a validation of the cause for which I became the spokesperson and symbol, as well as a repudiation of the harsh and misguided policies of Bishop Martino.

In embracing our common cause, and on behalf of my colleagues in Catholic education, I want to thank all who thought me worthy of this honor. Special thanks goes out to my many friends and colleagues in the education community, public and private alike, as well as those in organized labor who continue to embrace our cause. I am especially grateful to Rep. Eddie Day Pashinski and his fellow legislators who have supported our cause.

Finally, my thanks goes out to the many former students and their parents who have contacted me to convey their support. My service to them during my 33 year teaching career has been the most fulfilling aspect of my life. They remain in my constant thoughts and prayers.

Diocesan teachers' leader selected CV's Person of the Year

The following article appeared in the Wilkes-Barre Citizens' Voice, December 28, 2008:

Diocesan teachers' leader selected CV's Person of the Year

Watch companion video

Michael Milz's new office at the McEntee-Keller Labor Center in Dunmore resembles any other office, except the picture hanging above Milz's desk.

In the black-and-white photo, hundreds of mine workers stare out at viewers, challenging them, asking to be recognized for their service. The picture depicts the United Mine Workers meeting in 1906, held in Indianapolis. Milz's great-grandfather stands among the men, and so does his wife's great-grandfather.

Milz — who Citizens' Voice readers chose as Person of the Year for 2008 — is well aware of the historical significance of the picture and its relation to the Wyoming Valley.

Milz was a history teacher for 33 years, before he ended up in his new office, following his dismissal as a teacher at Holy Redeemer in June. Throughout this year, he and his fellow teachers compared themselves to the mine workers in the photograph — caught up in a their own labor battle and fighting for recognition.

In January 2008, the Scranton Diocese announced it would no longer recognize the Scranton Diocese Association of Catholic Teachers (SDACT) as a collective bargaining unit. The teachers, headed by Milz, immediately expressed their discontent with the decision. They spoke to the media and picketed outside Holy Redeemer High School in Wilkes-Barre and the diocese's offices in Scranton. A teacher many former students say was the "best of the best," Milz led the fight as the president of the union, and he says he lost his job because of it.

Milz's plight struck a nerve with Citizens' Voice readers, and they voted him as Person of the Year for 2008. Milz, however, says that winning Person of the Year was not about him as an individual, but rather because he is the figurehead for the Catholic school teachers.

"I don't think a single person voted for Michael Milz in this case," said Milz, 58, of Wilkes-Barre."I think they were validating our stance this year."

In the classroom

Milz's first job wasn't teaching, and he did some soul-searching before he ever set foot in front of a classroom. After graduating from King's College in 1972, Milz worked for a family business, L&C Sportswear, a garment company in Wilkes-Barre. He went to work each day, but didn't feel fulfilled.

He always had a nagging feeling he should be doing something else.

"How do you explain at the end what you do with your talents?" Milz said. "I decided to walk away from that job and get my teaching certificate."

In 1975, he was hired to teach history and science courses at Bishop Hoban and took a significant pay cut to follow his dream. Looking back, he never regretted his decision and loved being in the classroom. Milz found all the cliches about teaching to be true; he touched people's lives and formed friendships with students he can never forget.

"It was fun. It was interesting. It was very fulfilling, and I want to do it again," Milz said.

Many of Milz's former students say he was a teacher who had a positive influence on their lives. He hosted study sessions at his home and earned a reputation as a teacher who cared deeply about his students' success, even prompting some students to make T-shirts that said "Milz for President."

"He was highly respected by a lot of people," said Christina Drogalis, 22, a graduate of Bishop Hoban who is now a philosophy graduate student at Loyola University in Chicago. "He went far beyond what his job description was, and that was really apparent to us."

Bridget Keating, 22, an employee of PricewaterhouseCoopers, had Milz as a teacher for AP history. A 2004 graduate of Bishop Hoban, she said Milz is a phenomenal choice for "Person of the Year" and has been well-deserving of accolades long before the current events with the diocese."

The fact that Mr. Milz is not in a classroom right now is a tragedy not only for our Catholic schools, but for all schools," Keating said.

Labor movement

As a young teacher, Milz saw some of his colleagues reprimanded for their actions, but didn't think much of the incidences at first. He never spoke up until he was called to an administrator's office and was accused of saying things in class he didn't say. He realized without a union, he had no recourse and neither did the other teachers.

"I had three kids. I needed more security," Milz said. "I couldn't just allow one person to take this career away from me."

With his leadership, he and fellow teachers formed the Bishop Hoban Education Association in 1978. Soon other area Catholic schools followed suit, and all the unions in the Diocese of Scranton came together under the SDACT in 1981.

Milz learned his position on unions from his time at a Catholic college, where he was told the Catholic church supported people's attempts to gain social justice through collective action. Why the church has changed its position today confuses Milz, and he believes it is the sole position of the Diocese of Scranton and Bishop Joseph Martino.

"What's helped a lot have been the calls from priests who support us," Milz said.

Repeatedly, the Diocese of Scranton has released statements saying that the teachers do not need a union because the school has its own Employee Relations Program and "the decision regarding recognition of SDACT is final and will not be revoked."

Following his dismissal from Holy Redeemer, Milz took the teachers' fight in another direction, after speaking with state Rep. Eddie Day Pashinski, D-Wilkes-Barre. In September, Pashinski introduced House Bill 2626, legislation that could give Catholic school teachers the right to choose whether or not to organize into a union. HB 2626 never came to a final vote because the session ran out.

Pashinski, a former school teacher, intends to propose similar legislation in January. A Catholic himself, Pashinski views the situation as a secular matter about work conditions and the employees' right to choose to form a union.

"It is unfortunate we have to take this avenue to bring forth some fairness here," Pashinski said.

The church has stated that the proposed legislation, if passed, will have a detrimental effect on Catholic education. The Diocese of Scranton opposed HB 2626 "not because the Church opposes unions, but because the government has no place in interposing itself as arbiter within religious ministries," according to a diocesan statement.

Milz believes the proposed legislation is the only way to bring fairness and justice for the Catholic school teachers. He and Pashinski have already judged how the new General Assembly may stand on the legislation and have been approached by some lawmakers who support the bill.

"I think it's going to pass and be signed by the governor and become law. If anything, the last election cycle made that more of a possibility," Milz said. "I think you are going to see a very pro-labor atmosphere in the country."

What the future holds

The Diocese of Scranton's position on the union has not affected Milz's faith. He still attends St. Nicholas Roman Catholic Church in Wilkes-Barre. For now, Milz is a field representative with the Northeastern Pennsylvania Area Labor Federation, AFL-CIO. He has been visiting labor groups and speaking about the situation between the teachers and the Diocese of Scranton.

Milz says he will continue to fight on behalf of the teachers in 2009. A rally is planned for Jan. 24 to mark one year since Martino said he would not recognize the SDACT.

Milz couldn't believe it when he learned he was named The Citizens' Voice Person of the Year for 2008. He said he is honored and humbled to be chosen from among other well-deserving nominees. He immediately told his wife, Patricia, and his three children, Andrew, 31, Martin, 29, and Christian, 27.

Milz said the best thing he did this year was speak up for Catholic school teachers, a group of people who have done many remarkable things in the community.

A history teacher, Milz often reflects on his own conflict and its relation to the area's labor-rich past. But Milz hopes the conflict ends as it began — with SDACT representing the teachers and with Milz back in the classroom speaking about American history.

"There are lessons to learn about people's behavior that defy time. People basically don't change," Milz said. "If you see how people overcame problems in the past, you can avoid these problems in the future."

Bishop Martino criticized by the Association for the Rights of Catholics in the Church

Dear Bishop Martino,

Members of the board of Directors of the ARCC have observed your public proclamation of what appears to be the absolute finality of your decison about the teachers' union in the Catholic Schools of Scranton.
http://www.pbs.org/wnet/religionandethics/episodes/episode-no-1211/cover-catholic-church-and-labor/1322/

We judge such unmitigated certainty is highly irregular for a servant of the people of the Church and is more indicative of a dictator or absolute monarch. We urge you to reconsider this intransigent position as unfitting, arrogant, and a scandal to your people. Should you in conscience not be able to back down from this absolute position, might you ponder if perhaps the time has come for you to allow a more pastoral-minded administrator to deal with this situation? Surely you must be aware of the harm this is causing to the Church of Scranton. Fear of what you perceived to be the results of compromise seems to have blinded you to its consequences.

Your resistance to the teaching of the Church on the right to collective bargaining, even though sanctioned by the Vatican, can be viewed as what you believe to be a threat to the Church. Might your trust in your people and the Holy Spirit be somewhat in question, resulting in your fearful and unbending position?

Dear bishop, please prayerfully reconsider you stance on this for the good of the Church. The slings and arrows that you have endured testify to your constancy. Do not let them harden your heart, but without fear open the door again to negotiation with your people and share the burden of continuing Catholic education with them. They are sons and daughters of God as you, and they are probably more interested in the survival of Catholic schools than you are. Your will against their survival will not prevail.

Please rethink your understanding of the will of God on this matter.

Sincerely yours in Christ,

Robert Schutzius, Ph.D., Secretary
ARCC

Happy Holidays

On behalf of the Scranton Diocese Association of Catholic Teachers Executive Board and all SDACT members, I would like to take this opportunity to wish all in our local community, as well as to those across the country who supported our campaign for justice and dignity, a very Merry Christmas and a happy, healthy and prosperous New Year.

We look forward to working with you, and we pray for your continuing support of our efforts in 2009!


Michael A. Milz, President
Scranton Diocese Association of Catholic Teachers

Catholic Scholars urge Obama Transition Team to support federal law that would make it legal for workers in religious institutions to organize

Catholic Scholars for Worker Justice testified before the Obama Transition Team this week. Among their suggestions to the new administration, they urged them to support a law that would make it "legal" for workers in religious institutions to organize.

To view their testimony click on the following link:

CATHOLIC%20SCHOLARS%20FOR%20WORKER%20JUSTICE-Transition-Paper.pdf

Put unions at wheel

The following letter to the editor of the Scranton Times appeared December 19, 2008:

Put unions at wheel

Editor:

I have been following the articles concerning the failure of our automobile industry. I have followed the talks in Washington, D.C., to determine the losses the unions must endure in order to get funding to save the industry from going under.

Why are Wall Street, AIG insurance and other non-unionized companies being helped with no hesitation? It appears this country is looking for a way to dissolve unions. We are fighting them in this city. A bishop walked in one day and ended the teachers’ union. Now, senators and representatives are saying that no help should be given to those whose tax money has kept Washington alive for years.

The plan for the auto industry should be to fire all of the CEOs and let the union presidents take over. They are excellent at putting plans together and showing support to their employees.

Force the CEOs and company presidents to give back the raises and bonuses received the past three years and let them see what a true recession is all about.

Leave the unions alone and stop trying to end the only hope employees have. Long live John Mitchell.

THE REV. KATHRYN SIMMONS
SCRANTON

The High Cost of Union Busting

The following was originally posted on October 8.

In November of 2006, the Diocese of Scranton announced its plans to restructure its schools. That decision simultaneously brought closure to the old schools and the bargaining relationship that several of those schools had with their in-house unions, all of which were under the umbrella of the Scranton Diocese Association of Catholic Teachers (SDACT). The closures also triggered contractual provisions in some schools requiring that the employers pay teachers money owed them for accumulated sick leave and severance pay when their employment with those schools was terminated. Knowing this to be the case, the SDACT asked the employers how they intended to make good on their contractual promises, or how a workable compromise could be arranged through collective bargaining. When no responses to the union’s requests were received, grievances were filed for breach of contract.

Those grievances progressed through their contract’s grievance procedure, eventually reaching the final step of the process – binding arbitration. At three schools (formerly Bishop O’Hara, Seton Catholic and St. Nicholas-St. Mary’s) the employers agreed to pay their teachers this earned benefit promised by their contracts before any hearings took place.

Since May of 2008, separate arbitration hearings have taken place between the parties at the former Bishop Hoban, Bishop Hafey, Bishop Neumann, Bishop O’Reilly Junior High and Bishop O’Reilly Senior High. Dates for hearings are yet to be fixed for St. Vincent’s, Wyoming Area Catholic, St. Aloysius, St. Jude’s and St. Paul’s.

On September 3, 2008, the first arbitration award was handed down, that affecting Bishop Hoban. SDACT and the teachers were the winners in the dispute. The arbitrator’s award called for the employer to immediately begin paying out $725,000 to Hoban’s 40 teachers. Moreover, there is every expectation that when the dust finally settles and all of the arbitrators have ruled, the Diocese may owe nearly two million dollars ($2,000,000) to the teachers in the 12 affected schools.

This immediate payout (and the enormous associated legal costs) will no doubt have an unfavorable impact on the Diocese and its schools. It is just one more foreseeable and avoidable consequence of a reckless policy of union-busting initiated by Bishop Martino and his advisors. When word of such financial malfeasance reaches parishioners, no doubt, as it has done so often before, the Diocese will soon attempt to spin this outcome to make it a demonstration of the union’s “greed” or the dangerous effect a union would have on the schools. This type of spin would, of course, be far from the truth.

The fact is that what was designed as a small benefit per individual employee, if properly applied under a union contract in the new school system, would have had a nearly negligible financial impact as individual teachers left the employment of the Diocese through retirement or attrition. (It must be noted, that such provisions were cooperatively designed to benefit both parties, and took their shape in negotiation as much from employer input as from the union.)

To illustrate the point, all one needs to do is to see how these provisions worked under the old union contracts in place before 2007. That is, each year, on average, a small number of teachers would retire. Those teachers were entitled to cash in the sick days that they had banked or receive severance pay – a benefit designed to augment their insufficient 401K retirement plans, and to help defray the cost of medical insurance in retirement. Viewed as an individual budget item at each school, the amount was very small and easily absorbed, as new teachers hired to replace retiring veterans came onboard at much lower salaries. In most cases, the employer would have come out ahead in this transaction. However, by its actions, the Diocese upset this agreed-upon balance by now making an expense that would have been allocated in dribs and drabs over a number of years immediately due and owing.

This situation did not have to be. This immediate and extremely large payment is a direct cost of union-busting. Bishop Martino and his advisors should be held accountable by the parishioners of the Scranton Diocese for such financial recklessness. Had the Diocese been willing to honor the Church’s own teachings by recognizing the union chosen by its own employees, the parties could have met to negotiate a new contract that would have defrayed these costs and allowed for a result in the best interests of the employer, teachers and, most importantly, the students and parents served by the schools.

The Diocese will no doubt claim that it was willing to carry over teachers’ sick days in question to the newly established schools. Never, however, were Diocesan officials willing to abide by the original contractual conditions governing payment for the sick days teachers had already earned over the course of decades of service. Nor, of course, were they willing to place language preserving the right to these earned benefits in a legally-enforceable union contract.

So, when the Diocese inevitably smears SDACT and all unions as greedy and self-serving, one only has to ask these questions: Was it SDACT or the Diocese that sought to provide a modest retirement benefit that corresponded directly to a teacher’s years of dedicated service; one which as contractually provided, would have been fiscally responsible? Was it SDACT or the Diocese, that, in a reprehensible attempt to subvert Church social justice teachings, placed an unnecessary financial burden on the community of faithful Catholics? The answers, sadly, are very clear.

Union: Diocese owes ex-teachers $1M Church leaders unsure how to pay severance, accumulated sick leave

The following article appeared in the Scranton Times Tribune, December 12, 2008:

Union: Diocese owes ex-teachers $1M Church leaders unsure how to pay severance, accumulated sick leave

The Diocese of Scranton owes former teachers almost $1 million in arbitration awards for accumulated sick leave and severance pay, according to the teachers union president.

But teachers have not received any of that money yet, said Michael Milz, president of the Scranton Diocese Association of Catholic Teachers — the union the diocese refuses to recognize.

“In essence, they (the diocese) are deadbeats,” Mr. Milz said.

The diocese responded to the charge Thursday with a written statement, saying it intends to honor the awards but is not sure where the money would come from. It did not elaborate on the diocese’s financial condition.

Diocesan operations produced net income of $1.37 million in the fiscal year ending June 30, 2007 (the most recent disclosed publicly). However, the balance sheet showed the net value of assets shrinking under the long-term burdens of struggling parishes and unfunded pension obligations.

Because of its financial trend, the 11-county diocese has been evaluating its 224 parishes for a large restructuring plan that will consolidate and close churches.

These new bills are for arbitration awards to teachers who were laid off when the diocese restructured its school systems in 2007. Many schools did not honor contracts with their employees who were laid off, including clauses on severance pay, Mr. Milz said.In the last few months, several arbitration awards have been announced. Teachers are set to receive payments ranging from a couple-hundred dollars to $40,000, based on their years with the diocese, Mr. Milz said.

The total amount owed by the diocese, including legal fees, may rise to $2 million when all cases are decided, Mr. Milz said.

Mr. Milz said he has not received word from the diocese as to when teachers will receive what they’re due. He said the union soon will file lawsuits seeking to enforce the binding arbitration.

“You have to take them to court and force them to pay,” he said.

The diocesan statement says the union is having a “detrimental impact” on Catholic education.

“These arbitration awards were the result of contract language with SDACT that created great economic hardship for the parishes and Boards of Pastors that formerly operated Catholic schools,” the statement read. “These awards demonstrate why the Diocese of Scranton could never afford to return to a system that permits such exorbitant benefits — benefits that parishes would never be able to pay.

”Most of the contracts called for grievances to be heard by the American Arbitration Association. After the decisions, any payments were to be started immediately, Mr. Milz said.

An arbitration decision from September called for the diocese to immediately begin paying out $725,000 to 40 teachers from the former Bishop Hoban High School, according to Mr. Milz. No payments have been made, he said.

Rulings for Bishop O’Reilly Senior High and Bishop O’Reilly Junior High in Kingston, Bishop Neumann High School in Williamsport and St. Vincent’s Elementary School in Honesdale were recently announced. The total severance pay and payment for unused sick days will cost the diocese about $236,000 for those cases, Mr. Milz said.

A decision on the case from Bishop Hafey High School is expected before Christmas.

Other cases, including those at Wyoming Area Catholic, St. Aloysius, St. Jude and St. Paul schools, will be heard when an arbitrator is mutually chosen by the diocese and union, Mr. Milz said.

After each decision was announced, an attorney for the union sent a letter to the diocese. No response was ever given, Mr. Milz said.

The lack of payments has made teachers “eager and angry,” he added. “None of it makes sense, but nothing they’ve basically done in the year makes sense.”

At three schools — formerly Bishop O’Hara High School, Seton Catholic High School and St. Nicholas/St. Mary’s School — the employers agreed to pay their teachers the benefits promised by their contracts before hearings, Mr. Milz said.

In its statement, the diocese said it has already paid $6,600 for teachers at the former Bishop O’Hara High School and approximately $31,000 for teachers at St. Nicholas/St. Mary School. Teachers at Bishop Neumann have been given the option of carrying over sick days into the new system, so any amount owed to them will depend on what they choose to do, according to the diocese.

SDACT union successful with favorable arbitration awards

The following article appeared in the December issue of The Union News:

Arbitration wins are mounting for the union that once represented teachers em­ployed by the Diocese of Scranton.

According to Michael Milz, Presi­dent of the Scranton Diocese Asso­ciation of Catholic Teachers (SDACT) Union, the union recently received four new awards that re­quire the Diocese of Scranton to pay former union members money owed under the terms and conditions of the previous contract agreement be­tween the SDACT and the employ­er.

In the previous edition of the newspaper, it was reported the un­ion, which represented most of the teachers of the Diocese of Scranton, won a major arbitration award that could cost them nearly $725,000. The union received the arbitrator award that will require the Scranton Diocese to pay the teachers the money owed to them for accumulated sick leave and severance pay when their employ­ment with the smaller school system was terminated.

The union represented the teachers of seventeen of the fourty-two grade schools and nine of the ten high schoo1s of the Scranton Diocese until Bishop Martino restructured the system in 2007. The new system eliminat­ed the small school boards and created four regional boards. SDACT pre­viously had contracts with each Board of Pastors that represented each school. Bishop Joseph Martino implemented a “Employee Relations Pro­gram,” which busted the union. Mr. Milz said the Scranton Diocese teach­ers now have what could be called a “company union,” similar to what the coal barons had throughout the region before the United Mine Workers Union became the miners bargaining representative.

Between May and September, 2008 arbitration hearings were conducted and on September 3rd the first arbitration award was handed down that af­fected the teachers once employed at Bishop Hoban in Wilkes-Bane. The arbitration ruling ordered the employer to pay $725,000 in back payment for the sick leave days not used by fourty SDACT members employed at Bishop Hoban which includes Mr. Milz.

SDACT has not represented the workers since August 2007, when their previous contract expired. SDACT now has 22 active members employed by the Diocese at St. Michael’s School in Tunkhannock. The cunent five year contract agreement with the Scranton Diocese will expire in August 2009.

All hearings are being conducted by arbitrators affiliated with the Ameri­can Arbitration Association (AAA).

Mr. Milz was a 33 year employee of the Scranton Diocese, who worked as a science teacher and later a social studies teacher at Bishop Hoban High School in Wilkes-Bane, now called Holly Redeemer. He is cunently employed by the Northeastern Area Labor Federation (ALF) in Dunmore, which is affiliated with the American Federation of Labor and the Con­gress of Industrial Organizations (AFL-CIO).

The lastest decisions involve teachers employed at the former Bishop O’Reilly Junior High School, Bishop O’Reilly Senior High School in Kingston; Bishop Neumann High School in Williamsport and St. Vin­cent’s Elementary School in Honesdale.

Mr. Milz stated, former Bishop O’Reilly Senior teachers will receive 1 month salary and $45.00 for every unused sick day which will cost the Di­ocese of Scranton approximately $88,000.

Teachers affected at the former Bishop O’Reilly Junior High School will receive I month salary, plus $20.00 for every unused sick day for a ap­proximate financial cost to the Diocese of Scranton of $25,000.

Bishop Neumann teachers will receive $1,500 each that will cost the em­ployer around $18,000. St. Vincent’s teachers will receive on average $625.00 each for a approximate cost to the Diocese of Scranton of $5,000.

Mr. Milz stated following receipt of the arbitrator’s rulings the employ­ers were asked to pay the awards according to the verdicts so rendered. As of press time, December 8th, there has not been any response from the Di­ocese of Scranton about those requests for payment.

Michael Milz estimates the overall costs to the Scranton Diocese for their failure to pay union teachers what was owed to them under the previ­ous contract agreement could be more than $2 million.

A ruling from the arbitration held ivolving the teachers employed at the former Bishop Hafey High School in Hazleton is expected before Christ­mas.

Catholic teachers hit again as bishop changes pension plan

The following letter to the editor of the Wilkes-Barre Citizens' Voice appeared in the December 9, 2008 edition of the paper:

Catholic teachers hit again as bishop changes pension plan

Editor:

Once again the Bishop of Scranton has shown why the teachers in Catholic schools need a union. Years ago Catholic teachers had no pension plans. They worked until they could not work anymore and then lived on Social Security or with their children. With the establishment of the union, the SDACT, teachers negotiated for a pension plan, and plans were established at the various schools. These plans were picked by the teachers in each school according to what the teachers felt was best for their needs.

In November teachers were notified by the diocese that all the pension plans were ended as of December 31, 2008. If the teachers wanted a pension plan they would have to join a new plan chosen by the diocese. Like all changes since consolidation there was no discussion with or input from the teachers. The diocese picked the company to run the plan, the advisors that will deal with the teachers, and the provisions of the plan.

On Friday Nov. 28, teachers from Holy Redeemer High School and St. Nicholas Elementary School were informed by mail about a meeting after school on Dec. 2 to explain the change. James Burke, the personal director for the diocese introduced the representative of the company running the new plan and then sat in the corner of the room and laughed as teachers complained about not having input or a choice to keep the old plans. Mr. Burke is the representative of the Bishop who just over a year ago looked teachers in the eye and said, “The diocese has no problem with the teachers having a union, just give us a few month to organize the school boards.”

First teachers were told the old plans did not meet changes in IRS regulations and the new company did but after asking a few questions it came out the old companies met the regulations and several companies had called Mr. Burke about continuing the old plans but they were rejected by the diocese. It quickly became clear that this meeting was just to say what the teachers already new, “Your only choice is do what the Bishop has ordered, join the new plan or go without.”

Little by little the Bishop is trying to take away not just the union but the all the things the SDACT fought for over the last 30 years. Not just monetary things like the pension plan, the dental coverage totally stripped away last year, and a poorer medical plan with higher co-pays and deductibles, but also agreements for restrictions on class size, and input on courses to be offered. How long will it be until Catholic teachers of the Scranton Diocese will be back to where they were 30 years ago? The answer is never!

With the help of State House Bill 2626 which will be reintroduced after the new House session starts in January, the bishop will be required to give Catholic teachers the same rights as other American workers; the right to form a union and negotiate a contract that is binding and cannot be changed or ignored as the Bishop is trying to do now. The diocese has been ordered by several arbitrators to pay money due to the teachers under the old contracts but the Bishop has simply ignored these orders.

All you good Catholics out there remember to open your wallets because the Bishop’s Annual appeal is underway and the bishop will need your money for these legal fees and for the payments when the diocese loses the case.

Eugene Gowisnok
Swoyersville

Church maintains that labor movement can help everyone

The following article appeared in The Sentinel, the offical newspaper of the Archdiocese of Portland, Oregon:

Church maintains that labor movement can help everyone
By Fr. Robert Krueger

A housekeeper cleans her first of 15 rooms for the day at the Portland Hilton.Sentinel photo by Ed Langlois

For Ana Judith Pérez, a single mother concerned with the future of her four children, making ends meet is a challenge, despite having a stable full-time job in Oregon.

Born in Nicaragua, and with experience living in Guatemala before traveling to the United States in search of a better tomorrow, this 42-year-old mother clearly knows that in this country she can work and move her family forward. But she knows it is not easy and she has to endure long workdays to be able to put food on the table.She emigrated in 1993 because all of her family was already in this country. All that time, she has worked in hotel housekeeping, currently at the Portland Hilton.Pérez moved her way up to become an office clerk and likes her work and her employer.

She earns about $850 per month.

The hotel cleaning team is made up of 80 room attendants, out of which only eight are Hispanic, from Mexico, El Salvador and Guatemala. The rest are immigrants from the Ukraine, Russia, Vietnam and China. Each worker was once required to care for 16 rooms in 8 hours, a tiring load. Because of the need to do work quickly, many suffered accidents, like falls or cuts.

Then Ana and others decided to join a union which formed in 2005. Unite Here! represents workers from the Expo Center, Convention Center and Performing Arts Center, in addition to employees of hotels like the Hilton, with close to 1,000 members in all.

Pérez says belonging to the union made everyone’s working conditions better. Now, the work load has been reduced to 15 rooms per worker in an eight-hour shift.

For her salary and job security, she thanks the union — and is glad the hotel management agreed.

Pérez calls immigrant workers an invisible force, keeping everything in order, night and day.
“What would they do without us?” she asks herself.

She now knows too well the issues workers face in the U.S. It is different from what she imagined, but still full of potential.

After graduating from college last year, 23-year-old Charlie Ashton moved to Portland, ready to see where life would take her.

“I love the city and I really wanted to come and work here,” Ashton says.With a bachelor’s degree in psychology, anthropology and sociology from Eastern Oregon University in LaGrande, she found a full-time job as a residential skills specialist at Rosemont School in North Portland. That’s a facility run by Portland Public Schools which provides education and housing for troubled teen girls. It’s housed in a former convent and girls’ school in North Portland.
Ashton and other Rosemont employees work for Morrison Child and Family Services, which hires employees to fill non-instructional positions.

For her, work is not about the money. Despite the stress and rigors, Ashton finds her job rewarding because she knows she is affecting lives in a positive way.

But she and others in her position make about $11 per hour. That means they sometimes face difficulties balancing their monthly budgets. It also means that, despite holding down full-time work, they cannot yet move into the middle class dream of stable home ownership and enough money for family or college.

Ashton gets by, sharing a two-bedroom income-restricted apartment. She’s not interested in spending much money on clothes, nightlife and technology. Her biggest splurge is a monthly gym membership. Her only debt is when she needs to make an emergency credit card payment.
“I’m not in the mindset of making more money as long as I make enough not to have debt,” Ashton said. “If I know I can’t afford something, I just tell myself I won’t do it.”

However, Ashton, with the help of the SEIU 503 union group, has worked to make life on the job better for her and other employees. Since the union organized last fall and took effect in July, employees at Rosemont will be able to use more work hours to take job-related continuing education classes, rather than compromising work hours. Safety and staffing level standards will be maintained so that employees are protected in case of physical injury and shifts are not short of workers.

From their stories, it is clear that struggle is the lot of many full-time workers in our country. They struggle to provide basic necessities of life and health for themselves and their families, sometimes working an extra job, and, often lacking health insurance, find themselves limited to hospital emergency rooms for health care. Some have been paid less than the agreed-upon wage or even paid less than required by law for number of hours they have worked. They struggle to cope with conflicting demands, about which they have no say, to provide a high-quality product or service while burdened with an excessive workload, restrictive procedures or inadequate training. Sometimes they are forced to work in conditions that endanger their health or risk the well-being of the people they serve.

In order to strengthen their ability to achieve justice in the workplace, many workers seek to organize a union. They realize that unless they are organized they face a large power imbalance in favor of the employer in any effort to negotiate for their needs. Yet very large numbers find this goal unachievable. The right of workers to organize is established in U.S. law, but that law has been so weakened over past decades that it is now difficult for workers to succeed when employers resist (which about 90 percent of employers do).

Margaret Butler, director of Portland Jobs with Justice, says injustice in compensation and working conditions and lack of negotiating power are the experience of many American workers. Portland Jobs with Justice is a coalition of 85 labor unions and community groups that act in solidarity with workers in efforts to obtain their rights.

Butler tells the story of how one employer changed worker sentiment from 80 percent for union to 20 percent, through a campaign she calls intimidation.

“The power remains with the employers,” she says.

Butler also said that U.S. workers work more hours, have less vacation and other time off than workers in the rest of the developed world. However, U.S. workers benefit little from the high productivity of the workforce. Growth in profits is transferred mostly to the wealth of the highest on the income scale. She also is critical of global capitalism’s placing American workers in competition with the lowest paid workers in the world in a global race to the bottom.
“Workers give a third of their life to their work—this demands that justice be done there, in our workplaces,” she said.

When workers attempt to organize and bargain collectively with their employer for just wages, benefits and working conditions, they exercise their unequivocal moral right rooted in a long Judeo-Christian tradition of justice. That tradition extends back to the medieval guilds, to Jesus in the New Testament, even as far back as the Hebrew prophets and the covenant of Moses. The tradition has been articulated in modern times in papal encyclicals and other church documents, beginning in 1891 with the encyclical Rerum Novarum of Pope Leo XIII. This consistent and strong Catholic moral teaching is rooted in the human dignity of the workers. Through their work, people are understood to fulfill their humanity. They exercise their creativity and self-expression, provide for their own and their families’ secure livelihood, participate in decisions toward fashioning a quality product or delivering a quality service and contribute to the common good of society. In so acting they are co-creators with God of their world. They have a fundamental right to the comparable power in the workplace that can ensure the attainment of these goals. They have a right to organize for that power.

It is also Catholic teaching that their choice of the union that will represent them is their own and in no way their employer’s. Furthermore, in Catholic theology there is a hierarchy of law; divine law and the moral law that flows from it supersedes civil law. Therefore, U.S. labor law must not be used to inhibit or frustrate workers’ attempts to obtain their rights based in moral law as is frequently attempted by employers resisting an organizing effort.

How important is the support of the community to the success of workers’ struggle for their rights? Butler says, “It is vital. In many cases it has been the pressure of the public support of the outside community for workers in organizing efforts and contract negotiations that has tipped the balance in the workers’ favor. There is a further benefit to the community when its workers are organized and well compensated; workers’ lives are more stable, they are more able to participate in community life. The economy and tax base are stronger and so are education and other services.”

Catholic social justice tradition has not been doctrine alone, but has also included action for worker justice. At the high point of the labor movement in the last century, clergy and lay people alike were actively involved. Worker justice was preached in the pulpits. Parish halls were places where workers gathered to learn the skills of organizing and negotiating. Catholics were prominent among union organizers. Laity and clergy joined workers at rallies and stood with them in strikes. Catholic high school students studied papal encyclicals on the rights of workers in their social studies classes.

Catholics understand that they are called by, and required to act according to the moral law and to support justice in their community. There is no reason to exclude justice for workers from this moral focus.

Recently, Archbishop John Vlazny made a strong contribution to our community’s awareness of responsibility in the matter of worker justice. He approved a unanimous recommendation of the Archdiocesan Presbyteral Council — “That the document, ‘A Fair and Just Workplace: Principles and Practices for Catholic Health Care,’ be used as an archdiocesan response to labor organizing initiatives in the archdiocese.” The document was developed by a committee of the U.S. bishops.

He further suggested in a letter to priests, deacons, and pastoral ministers that this action “provides all of us an excellent opportunity for education among our parishioners about the importance and content of the long tradition in Catholic Social Teaching in support of worker justice as well as some of the obstacles that workers face in exercising their rights.”

Msgr. Charles Lienert, pastor of St. Andrew Church in Portland and an advocate for workers’ rights, suggests what people and parishes might do to support workers in their struggle for justice.

“Follow the recommendation of Archbishop Vlazny to study the document, ‘A Fair and Just Workplace’ (available on the USCCB website),” Msgr. Lienert suggests. “Its discussion of Catholic social teaching and workers issues is comprehensive. Speak about worker justice from the pulpit and make it a subject of the community’s prayer. Build a culture of being knowledgeable about and friendly toward workers and their needs. When appropriate, become active in support of workers in organizing efforts and contract negotiations by attending rallies, writing letters, making phone calls and being worker advocates in conversation with others. Pay attention to legislative activity at the state and federal level that involves workers’ concerns and when needed contact Legislators.

“An important issue that will need our support both in Congress and the state legislature in the near future will be the Employee Free Choice Act, which holds out the hope of restoring balance of power in labor organizing,” he adds.

People or parishes seeking resources about any of this are welcome to contact the Archdiocesan Office of Justice and Peace and the Faith Labor Committee of Portland Jobs with Justice.
Focus on the struggle of workers for their rights might give the impression that labor relations are expected to be adversarial. In reality the Catholic vision of labor relations involves mutual respect among all parties. The ideal is that labor and management work in partnership to plan for and develop quality goods and services. In this vision it is recognized that workers, who with their skill, are the efficient subjects in the process and not mere instruments of production as Pope John Paul insisted.

As subjects, they have much to contribute as partners in the effort. Speaking to such a partnership, Alice Dale, executive director of Service Employees International Union, Local 49, outlined SEIU’s evolving approach to alliances for quality care with hospitals where workers are represented by SEIU.

She said, “The approach is based on our overlapping mission and shared values and goals—offering the highest quality care, improving funding, solving the problem of the uninsured, wanting a well staffed, highly trained, invested and ‘mission driven’ workforce.”

When a true partnership exists between labor and management all involved experience satisfaction, a superior result is achieved, the common good is served, and workers’ organizations are recognized to be a valuable resource.