Catholic teacher’s layoff stirs question of fairness

The following editorial appeared in the Wilkes-Barre Times Leader, June 11, 2008:

MICHAEL MILZ WEARS many hats: Teacher, father, grandfather and union leader.

Now, thanks to the Diocese of Scranton, he dons another: Laid-off employee.

Milz, a Holy Redeemer High School teacher who happens to be president of the Scranton Diocese Association of Catholic Teachers, recently learned he and seven other lay teachers would not be returning to the classroom next year.

A diocese spokesman said union involvement was not a factor in layoff decisions.

“Mr. Milz is being laid off because, due to declining enrollment, fewer teachers are needed in the social studies department at Holy Redeemer High School, and there are other teachers in that department who are ahead of Mr. Milz in seniority,” an e-mailed diocese statement said Tuesday.

Action appears to trump words in this case. Milz, who taught in diocesan schools for 33 years, was hardly an employee likely to be let go in a fair and just environment. But under current rules, all of his tenure in the diocese does not count, which put him at a disadvantage when layoffs were required.

Milz has been the most vocal of those critical of the diocese’s decision to stop recognizing the union. When the diocese restructured last year, it legally severed union contracts it had.
Since then, the diocese repeatedly refused to even meet the union and then issued a statement on its Web site that the decision is “final and will not be revoked.”

Undeterred, Milz has remained at the forefront of unionization efforts, in part to do away with arbitrary rules that allow the diocese to get rid of teachers with seniority. He’s organized rallies and pickets, initiated letter-writing campaigns and spearheaded efforts to keep the issue alive.
His vigilance is expected to climax Saturday when the union sponsors the “Rally for Rights” demonstration on Wilkes-Barre’s Public Square to support a bill that would put Catholic lay teachers under current labor laws.

As it stands now, Catholic lay teachers do not have the same legal rights as other workers when unionizing. State Rep. Eddie Day Pashinski – a Wilkes-Barre Democrat who was involved with the union while teaching at Nanticoke Area – is drafting legislation to undo the exclusion enacted in the 1930s.

Don’t be surprised if the labor supporters’ displeasure reaches a crescendo; the diocese’s tactics – designed to whipsaw union activists to abandon their cause – could easily have the opposite effect.

We understand the diocese – like most of us – is facing unsettling times. There’s little doubt layoffs are necessary to keep its school system solvent, especially with shrinking enrollment and other financial pressures.

But there’s plenty of doubt that the new seniority rules were written with fairness to employees in mind.

And there’s no doubt that Catholic teachers need the same protection afforded other workers.
The Milz case is a sterling example that Pashinski can use to undo an exclusion that’s outlived its usefulness.