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Catholic Teachers Rally for Union

Catholic Teachers Rally for Union - Saturday, June 14, 2008 at 10:16PM EST

Reported by: Dia Wallace
Saturday, Jun 14, 2008 @ 10:16pm EST
WILKES-BARRE, LUZERNE COUNTY- Hundreds of people rallied on Public Square in Wilkes-Barre Saturday. The rally is one more chapter in the bitter labor dispute in the Catholic Diocese of Scranton.

And Congressman Paul Kanjorski joined the fight. “Do we want to live in a country where institutions or other individuals can take advantage of the wage level or quality of life and suppress those people, or are we in a country that wants to have quality of life responsible distribution of income that will allow all our citizens to prevail?” asked Kanjorski.

Clapping answered the question. The hundreds of people that rallied support a new bill that would allow the religious teachers to unionize. Former student Kevin Hourigan said, “How they are being treated is wrong and we need to do something about it. Someone has to stand up for what is right.”

The Scranton Diocese Association of Catholic Teachers tried to form their own union last January. Bishop Joseph Martino denied the teachers and instead formed an employee council. That set off a firestorm of controversy.

The proposed new bill -- House Bill 26-26 would allow teachers to unionize and essentially override the bishop. Some people who oppose the bill say it would violate the separation of church and state -- supporters disagree.

Association President Mike Milz said, "That's not what's going to happen with this bill whatsoever. It's been carefully crafted to avoid any kind of first amendment problem. It will not deal with what the church teaches. It won't deal with dogma. All it will do is specifically allow us the right to organize which is another first amendment right taken from freedom of assembly.”

The bill will be introduced this week in the Pennsylvania General Assembly which will amend the Pennsylvania Labor Relations Act to include coverage for employees of religious-affiliated schools.
 


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