A Stark Warning

From Citizen's Voice:

Approving legislation intended to force Bishop Joseph Martino’s hand on a rift with the Diocese of Scranton’s teachers union “will mean the end of Catholic schools” in 11 counties in Northeast Pennsylvania, the diocese warned in a statement Saturday.

Democratic legislators from the cities of Wilkes-Barre and Scranton, state Reps. Eddie Day Pashinski, D-Wilkes-Barre, and Kevin Murphy, D-Scranton, announced at a union rally they will reintroduce House Bill 26 soon. The bill would amend the state’s labor relations law to include employees of religiously affiliated schools.

The Saturday rally marked the one-year anniversary of the announcement that the diocese would not recognize the teachers union as a collective bargaining unit. The diocese instead created an employee relations program to address wages, benefits and other similar issues.

House Bill 26 would allow lay teachers and employees at religious schools to decide by a majority vote if they want to be represented by a union. Unions in religious schools could then bring grievances to the Pennsylvania Labor Relations Board — which currently has no jurisdiction over workplace issues in parochial schools.

The decision a year ago puts teachers at the “will” of their employer, the union has argued. The diocese argues its new employee relations program will include provisions to ensure job security.

The rally, held in front of the rectory at St. Peter’s Cathedral, brought out about 125 teachers, parents and union members who are supporting the Scranton Diocese Association of Catholic Teachers.

Following the rally, the diocese countered by revising a statement initially sent out Thursday. The statement ended with a new, clear message from the diocese: “Make no mistake about it, if HB 26 passes, it will mean the end of Catholic schools in the Diocese of Scranton, costing local communities $73,880,400 each year to educate these students.”

Diocesan statements have previously stated the bill would be detrimental and “compromise the religious character of Catholic schools,” but have not gone so far as to say it would eliminate Catholic education.

Michael Milz, president of the teachers union, said the statement is not surprising, the tactic is not new. He said the diocese previously said the bill would bankrupt the diocese.

“That kind of rhetoric is despicable. That’s a typical union-busting approach to scare people away from the union,” Milz said. “We’ve been here for 30 years and we’ve never put the diocese in a financial situation where it would not be able to afford to pay (its bills).”

“Who would make demands that would put themselves out of work?” he added.

Pashinski, the main sponsor for House Bill 26, said he expects the bill to get out of committee “within weeks” and he was optimistic about it passing the state House. But neither Pashinski nor Milz showed that same amount of optimism for the bill passing the state Senate, which is dominated by Republicans.

“It’s a monumental task, getting legislation passed,” Milz acknowledged. “It’s Democrats who tend to be pro-labor.”

Since losing his job in June as a history teacher at Holy Redeemer High School — the 34-year employee of the diocese claims he was unjustly terminated — Milz has been working for the Northeastern Pennsylvania Area Labor Federation, lobbying for support of the legislation.

While labor unions are expected to lobby in support of it, diocese spokesman Bill Genello said the Pennsylvania Catholic Conference and other religious organizations and private institutions are expected to lobby against the bill.

Milz said they will argue the exclusion of employees in parochial schools from the labor law, the only workers in the state not covered, is a loophole that needs to be addressed. The diocese, in its statement, said the bill would damage religious freedom and “grant a governmental agency the right to examine Church doctrines and religiously-based disciplines.”

“The authorization of that type of church-state entanglement would provoke a constitutional confrontation of the first magnitude,” the statement said.

If Pashinski and Murphy want to tangle with the Church, I say let them try. Litigation would, at the very least shut Milz and his anti-church rhetoric up when the Church beats them like a dog in the court system.

But of course this is Pennsylvania, and with Fast Eddie calling the shots from the big chair, I'm sure pro-union Judge Mundy would find the case on his docket. Then the Church is in trouble.

Bishop Martino, are you reading this? The "Catholic" school system under laymen is a joke anyway. Shut it down, bring in a traditional group of nuns, and re-open a real Catholic high school in the abondoned school next to the chancery office.

At the very least the best that would happen is that maybe then the female students wouldn't wear their skirts so short it is hard to determine if they are going to Catholic school or to work at the BYOB.

Just my two cents.