The Right to Organize

 Are there any teachers in Catholic schools who are members of teacher organizations?

 There certainly are! Catholic school teachers in all parts of the country have joined or formed organizations to represent the faculty of one school or the combined faculties of several schools in a diocese.

 Why do Catholic school teachers form or join teacher organizations?

 Teachers need representation to insure that their legitimate interests within Catholic education and within their own schools and systems are heard and protected.

 What are the needs of Catholic school teachers?

 These needs have been cogently stated in the LAY CATHOLICS IN SCHOOLS. "Lay people must receive an adequate salary, guaranteed by a well defined contract, for the work they do in the school: a salary that will permit them to live in dignity, without excessive work or a need for additional employment that will interfere with the duties of an educator."

The Sacred Congregation for Catholic Education is clear that a well defined contract includes far more than an adequate salary. A well defined contract would cover such areas as due process (a grievance procedure that has as its final step a binding decision by a neutral third party, binding on both employer and employees); job security; adequate provisions for legitimate and necessary leave (sick, personal, maternity); working conditions which include the length of the school day and teacher assignments.

The negotiation of these points usually takes place through a process in which both administrators and teacher representatives meet as equals in good faith.

 Is collective bargaining necessary for teachers, especially "Catholic" teachers in what is called a community of faith?

 According to Dr. Anthony Cresswell, collective bargaining is not only compatible with the concept of faith community, but may in fact be necessary... A community of faith requires some mechanism for procedural justice, that is, a way to make fair decisions about the distribution of benefits in the community... Collective bargaining appears to be the best means we now have for setting just wages and working conditions in many work settings. That is, collective bargaining can be a means of procedural justice for workers in Catholic schools.

If Catholic school teachers are to be truly professional then collective bargaining is essential. Only by this means can they participate in determining the manner in which their profession is to be practiced in their particular situation. As employees, they have the right to negotiate with their employer many facets of their work, and as professional educators, they have a duty to their fellow teachers, their students and the community to do what they can to improve education. This right and this duty remain even though an administrative subdivision of the Church happens to be the employer.

 But isn't employment in Catholic schools a different type of employer-employee relationship?

 Yes and no. Catholic schools are an integral part of the teaching mission of the Church. They are, though, administered and staffed by people both lay and religious, and honest differences and normal human conflict will arise. An excellent way to resolving these conflicts is through a procedure that minimizes personal confrontations as much as possible.

It should be emphasized that the teacher-employees recognize and accept that they have a vocation, that they are called by the Church itself to share actively and responsibly in determining the operation of these particular institutions. In the Pastoral Message, To teach as Jesus did, the National Conference of Catholic Bishops stated quite specifically that lay teachers are full partners in the educational enterprise, and the dramatic increase in their numbers and influence in recent years is welcome and desirable in itself. As with religious, so with lay teachers and administrators, the Catholic community invites not only their continued service but also their increased participation in planning and decision making and their continued emergence in leadership roles.

Administrators in the schools as well as diocesan officials know that the Church has been the champion of the right to organize and bargain collectively.

Both parties should, hopefully, approach employer/employee relationships and collective bargaining with an outstanding degree of mutual trust and respect so that they give true witness to the Bishops' Pastoral Message.

 How do we, as lay teachers, know that we are not excluded from the Church's teaching on the right of employees?

 In November, 1971, the Second General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops submitted a document to the Holy Father entitled Justice in the World. In part, the document states within the Church rights must be preserved. No one should be deprived of his ordinary rights because he is associated with the Church in one way or another.

In November, 1986, the U.S. Bishops issued a Pastoral Letter, Economic Justice for All: Catholic Social Teaching and the U.S. Economy. They state, "all church institutions must also fully recognize the rights of employees to organize and bargain collectively with the institution through whatever association or organization they freely choose."

"No one may deny the right to organize without attacking human dignity itself."

 What can the teachers in our school and system achieve through the National Association of Catholic School Teachers that we could not do by ourselves?

 The National Association can assist groups who wish to organize. NACST can advise you on what to do and the most effective way to do it; provide personnel to work with you, and secure answers to those touchy legal questions. It can provide information and resources to enable teachers to be more effective in achieving their legitimate goals.

Other membership pluses include a voice in Washington for legislation affecting our schools, and a communications network which provides the opportunity for your teachers to find out what is going on in other dioceses, to keep up with the latest in legislation, to follow trends in Catholic education and to learn what national figures are saying about Catholic school teachers and Catholic schools.