Bishop Martino, Why Won't You Talk to Us?

AN OPEN LETTER TO BISHOP MARTINO

February 18, 2008

Most Reverend Joseph F. Martino, D.D., Hist. E.D.

Bishop of Scranton

300 Wyoming Avenue

Scranton, PA 18503

Dear Bishop Martino:

We are your teachers; we teach science and religion, English and history, reading, writing, and arithmetic. We are also the members of the Scranton Diocese Association of Catholic Teachers. Why won’t you talk to us? From your letter in the local newspapers, it is obvious to us that your interests are our interests; quality Catholic education for our children, increasing the number of children in our schools, and providing that service at a price our parents can afford. We are parents too.

We also want a voice in the terms and conditions of our employment. We seek tenure when we have done a good job, health benefits for our families, and yes, a living wage. Unions seek not only wages and benefits for their members, but a voice in their working conditions and a contract.

You suggest that our leaders seek only financial gain. But how would you know that without talking to us? For thirty years, we have successfully bargained over hundreds of contracts covering wages, tenure, and a grievance procedure, and in each of those cases, we reached AGREEMENT. These were never one-sided negotiations, they were agreements for mutual gain. You acknowledge the right to form and join a labor organization and to bargain collectively are the “basic right of the human person.” How can you deny us those rights without even talking to us?

It now seems clear to us that you have received misleading information from those advising you, a prime example of which is your reference to the holding of the United States Supreme Court case National Labor Relations Board v. Catholic Bishop of Chicago. The Court did not “exempt” the Church from the requirements of the National Labor Relations Act. It looked to see if Congress, in 1935, specifically intended to include church schools within the coverage of the Act. Finding no such intent to include (not a surprising fact given that in 1935 the Church was an unshakeable supporter of labor and its schools staffed mainly by religious orders), the Court concluded that the law did not apply to church schools. By comparison, the laws of New Jersey and New York require the Church to bargain with their teachers.

Moreover, have your advisors told you that we offered to save the schools upward of $600,000 in accumulated sick pay and severance that came due when the schools were closed to form the new systems? Your advisors have torn a page out of corporate America’s anti-union playbook to attack the SDACT and its leaders, to impugn our motives and integrity, but they have never talked to us.

We seek justice, recognition, and a fair contract, fairly arrived at. It might take some work on both of our parts. But, does the Church exempt itself from the obligation to bargain with workers’ unions while exhorting others to do so? Surely not. We do not request recognition out of greed or avarice, but only out of the belief – the Catholic belief – that ALL employees, whatever they do, be they miners, garment workers, construction workers, janitors, doctors, nurses, day laborers, and yes, teachers, even Catholic teachers, should have an independent voice in the determination of their wages, hours, and working conditions. We teach our students Catholic values. Who has told you that we do not bring those values to the bargaining table?

They haven’t talked to us.

What is YOUR justification for not talking to us? We expect an answer.

Sincerely,

Michael A. Milz

President

Bishop Martino's Letter on Personnel Practices in the Catholic Schools