PLRB won’t rule on Milz case against Diocese of Scranton

The following article appeared in the Scranton Times Tribune, July 31, 2008:

PLRB won’t rule on Milz case against Diocese of Scranton

A decision on whether the head of the Diocese of Scranton teachers union was terminated because of his union activities will not be made by the Pennsylvania Labor Relations Board.

Lawyers for the diocese and Michael Milz, president of the Scranton Diocese Association of Catholic Teachers, received the board’s decision this week that it had no jurisdiction on Mr. Milz’s charges.

Mr. Milz said his attorney is working on a civil lawsuit that will be filed against the diocese.

Earlier this month, Mr. Milz filed the labor charges, claiming he was terminated “solely in retaliation for his vocal advocacy in support of his co-workers’ right to organize a union for mutual aid and protection.”

Mr. Milz said the complaint to the PLRB was part of a larger effort to force a reconsideration of the state Labor Relations Act so it applies to employees of religiously affiliated schools.

A bill introduced in the state House of Representatives in June would amend the Pennsylvania Labor Relations Act to give lay teachers and employees of private, religiously affiliated schools the right to join collective bargaining units. The first hearing on the bill will be Aug. 18 in Harrisburg.

Mr. Milz was one of eight teachers in the Holy Cross and Holy Redeemer school systems laid off in June.

At the time, the diocese said the layoffs were necessary because of reduced staffing needs and a 9.4 percent dip in student enrollment across the two systems for the 2008-09 school year.

In January, the diocese announced it would not recognize the union as a collective bargaining unit and instead implemented an employee relations program.

Mr. Milz, who was a social studies teacher at Holy Redeemer High School in Wilkes-Barre and a 34-year employee of the school system, has led the campaign against the decision.

Today’s Catholic Light, the diocesan newspaper, contains an article about the labor board’s decision and its impact on the bill that has been introduced in the House.

“House Bill 2626 would produce serious religious freedom and constitutional consequences that go well beyond who gets to represent the interests of some Catholic school teachers in the Diocese of Scranton,” the article states.