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Pocono News Section
Students Caught in the Middle of Catholic School Teacher Battle
Students Caught in the Middle of Catholic School Teacher Battle - Thursday, February 28, 2008 at 5:02PM EST
Reported by: Mike Trim
Thursday, Feb 28, 2008 @05:02pm EST
WILKES-BARRE, LUZERNE COUNTY- Teachers call out sick and students are told not to go to school. A scheduled sick day at Holy Redeemer High School hopes to draw attention to a bigger issue.
The Scranton Diocese Association of Catholic Teachers wants to unionize teachers at Holy Redeemer and other diocese schools. But the sick out Thursday is already becoming the start of something bigger. The association said the Scranton Diocese Bishop Joseph Martino won't budge on his no-union policy for Catholic School teachers. If Thursday's call out didn't send a message, more events are planned in the future that hopefully will.
It was a quiet campus at Holy Redeemer High School in Wilkes-Barre on Thursday. No students, no teachers, and thus no classes after a massive call out led by the Scranton Diocese Association of Catholic Teachers.
"We could have asked our teachers across the diocese today to join us today. We didn't want to do that" stated Mike Milz of the Scranton Diocese Association of Catholic Teachers.
Association President and Holy Redeemer teacher Mike Milz hopes the scheduled sick day leads to dialogue with Bishop Joseph Martino. The association wants to be the union representing Scranton Diocese Catholic School teachers. Bishop Martino has publicly refused to acknowledge the group as a union.
Milz continued "Without a union you really have no voice that has to be listened to. With a union, you become a partner with the employer. You get to make decisions on every aspect of what touches your job"
Milz said there's no massive callout planned for Friday or any other day for that matter. But he said if the message isn't received, it's a possibility for the future. To make sure the message sticks, the association plans to picket outside three schools Friday morning. Holy Redeemer in Wilkes-Barre, Holy Cross in Scranton, and St. John Newmann in Williamsport. No elementary schools were or will be affected by the strike.
Milz hopes the associations efforts won't fall on deaf ears. "Let our teachers choose, that's all. The bishop has proposed his type of representation, and we've proposed ours. A good compromise is to let the teachers chose, let them vote."
It’s an issue that will surely be on all catholic teachers’ minds at Holy Redeemer when they return to classes.
We've also learned all parents of Holy Redeemer students received an email from school administration on Thursday. That e-mail said students can support the teachers association, but not during school hours. If they do, the school said disciplinary action will follow.
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