Bill aims to aid Catholic teachers

The following article appeared page 1 in the Wilkes-Barre Times Leader, June 13, 2008:

Bill aims to aid Catholic teachers

The move to give Catholic lay teachers state legal protection in efforts to unionize has taken a big step forward and could be up for a House of Representatives vote as early as September, state Rep. Eddie Day Pashinski said.

On May 23 Pashinski announced plans to draw up a bill that would amend the Pennsylvania Labor Relations Act to include Catholic teachers. The state Supreme Court has ruled that Catholic teachers do not fall under the law’s protection.

At the time of Pashinski’s announcement, he had just begun seeking co-sponsors and the bill didn’t exist.

It does now.

On Wednesday, House Bill 2626 was referred to the committee on labor relations. Along with Pashinski, D-Wilkes-Barre, it has 54 other co-sponsors, including Phyllis Mundy, D-Kingston; John Yudichak, D-Nanticoke; and Todd Eachus, D-Butler Township.

Pashinski said he intends to unveil the bill during a Saturday rally on Public Square, Wilkes-Barre. The 1 p.m. event is being organized by the Scranton Diocese Association of Catholic Teachers and is open to the public.

The association previously represented teachers in many local schools but lost that status when the diocese restructured the system last year. The association has been pushing for recognition ever since, but Bishop Joseph Martino has said the rejection of the union is final and irrevocable, and that a new employee relations program will give all employees fair representation.

Diocese of Scranton spokesman Bill Genello did not respond to an e-mail or phone message seeking comment about the new status of the proposal.

Pashinski said he has been given the choice of either calling for a committee vote on the bill or holding public hearings first, and that he’s “leaning toward the latter course. I want to give everybody the chance to present their positions and make sure this is a law that is going to be just and fair,” he said.

Those hearings can’t be scheduled with any certainty until the Legislature passes a budget for the coming fiscal year, which starts July 1, Pashinski said. By law, the budget must be passed by June 30, though the deadline has been missed in recent years. Once a budget is passed, Pashinski said, hearings can probably be set up within two weeks.

“I think we should have a hearing here in the Wilkes-Barre area, in the Scranton Diocese,” he said, “Maybe one in Philadelphia, and one in Allegheny County.”

Pashinski said he’s confident hearings could end in August so the committee could vote on the bill and move it for a House vote in September.

The state Labor Relations Act covers most state employees and public school teachers. Under the act, if enough employees want to unionize but are rebuffed by their employer, they can petition the Labor Relations Board, which could then force a secret ballot vote on unionization overseen by an independent third party. If the majority of employees vote for unionization, the employer must oblige.

In 1996, the state Supreme Court ruled Catholic lay teachers do not fall under the law because they aren’t explicitly mentioned in it. A 1941 state Supreme Court ruling similarly found that employees of non-profit corporations do not fall under the Labor Relations Act. Pashinski’s bill specifically says “the term ‘employee’ shall include any employee, and shall not be limited to the employees of a particular employer, unless the act explicitly states otherwise.”

The bill tries to avoid conflict with the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution by stating that “in disputes involving a religious employer, the (Labor Relations Board) may neither define nor interpret religious doctrine,” though “the board may inquire into whether the espoused doctrine is a pretext for the action of the employer.” The bill also bars the Labor Relations Board from altering a religious employer’s “organizational structure,” or interfere with how religious controversies are resolved.

The announcement Monday that Scranton Diocese Association of Catholic Teachers President Michael Milz has lost his teaching job at Holy Redeemer High School in Wilkes-Barre “adds fire, so to speak,” to the issue, Pashinski said. The diocese said Milz and seven other teachers were laid off because of declining enrollment and that his union involvement had nothing to do with the decision, but Milz said the diocese had set up a unique system that gave him no seniority despite 33 years of teaching.