WHY WE FIGHT - PART 1: We fight to prevent returning to the status of "at-will employees"

Today we begin a series of postings on why the members of the Scranton Diocese Association will never accept the denial of our rights to organize a union, and to have that union recognized to bargain on behalf of our lay teachers. This right is sanctioned by the social justice teachings of the Roman Catholic Church (several earlier postings to this blog note those teachings). The denial of such a right affects the basic human dignity of all employees and makes a mockery of the notion of justice. Moreover, it undermines the credibility of the Church in Scranton as the institution which promotes Catholic social teaching.

In this series of postings we will explain how, should we be denied justice and dignity, such a denial would have an adverse affect on our teachers' careers and on their lives, those of their families, and on the lives of the students and parents we serve in our Catholic schools. In other words, the reason why SDACT will fight to the bitter end any attempt to strip away our God-given rights.

WHY WE FIGHT: REASON # 1: TO PREVENT A RETURN TO THE STATUS OF AT-WILL EMPLOYEES

Without a union contract, all teachers would become at-will employees. Prior to the first unions forming in 1978, that was the status of our teachers.

What does this legal jargon mean if you are presently a teacher in a Scranton Diocesan school?

"At will" means that your employer can terminate your job on a moment's notice for any reason - good, bad, indifferent -- or no reason at all. Unless the termination violates federal or state law, company policies, or an implied contract, there is very little that an at will employee can do to protest such action.

"For cause" employment means the opposite: the employer cannot discharge the employee without a legitimate reason -hence the term "for cause." Examples of situations where your boss cannot fire you without a good reason:

(1) you are a member of a labor union and protected by a collective bargaining agreement
(2) you are a government employee under the protection of civil service laws
(3) your state’s law prohibits at will terminations (Pennsylvania's does not)
(4) your termination would violate protective state or federal law (such as whistleblower's protection, civil rights, age, or disability protections).

For thirty years prior to the current crisis, teachers enjoyed the fruits of union contracts. During that time the security our teachers enjoyed was predicated on the "for cause" relationship dictated by our contracts. We refuse to make those days no more than a pleasant memory in the ugly reality of an at-will present moment. Our status as professional educators demands that we insist upon a contract that protects our rights, and a union to achieve that end.

This is one of the reasons why we fight.