The Catholic Church's social doctrine has long recognized that all people have the right to economic initiative, productive work, just wages and benefits, decent working conditions, and to engage in collective bargaining. Bishop Leonard Blaire, chair of the
U. S. bishops' domestic policy committee, reiterated those rights earlier this month.
This doctrine doesn't seem to apply to Seattle's Catholic school teachers, however. The Seattle Archdiocese is keeping its teachers from securing benefits equal to their public school counterparts.
A lack of knowledge may perpetuate the problem. Many of the 1,929 teachers working for the Seattle Archdiocese do not realize they may not have any unemployment income if they lose their jobs. Many don't realize their salaries are at roughly 80 percent of their contemporaries in the public schools. Many teachers do not realize that the church supports collective bargaining. Most do not know that it is virtually impossible to unionize within the construct that the Seattle Archdiocese has created.
Seattle's Catholic school teachers aren't the only ones lagging behind. Nationally, the 154,316 Catholic school teachers earn less than 80 percent of the market wage, according to the National Association of Catholic School Teachers, which represents about 4,000 unionized teachers in various states.
Gender discrimination may also be a factor. Women represent 75.6 percent of all teachers in Catholic elementary and high schools across the country.
Seattle's Catholic leadership has been tight-lipped on the issue. When Seattle Archbishop J. Peter Sartain's office was asked if he had anything to add on collective bargaining, or on Bishop Blaire's remarks, the Archdiocese communications office on March 3, 2011 offered: "Bishop Blaire's statement as chair of the U.S. bishops' domestic policy committee, was made on behalf of all the bishops of the United States. Archbishop Sartain has no immediate plans for a statement on this issue."
When asked why the Archbishop isn't implementing universal unemployment coverage, or openly supporting the organization of a union to represent teachers and staff, the Archbishop will reply, through a spokesperson, that even though he supports universal benefits and a force that can collectively bargain, his hands are tied between the mandates of Canon Law and his lack of authority over the parishes and schools. The church parishes are stand-alone entities that operate their adjacent schools. If a parish priest decides to use the "unemployment exemption" offered to religious organizations by federal law, those teachers will not receive benefits if the school closes or they lose their jobs. The priest has the option to cover his employees.
The same argument is used when disgruntled teachers pursue unionizing. A union, such as the American Federation of Teachers, will tell the teachers that they must apply as an individual school rather than part of the Archdiocese. They must also meet the million-dollar revenue requirement to apply. That eliminates the schools that need help the most.
To the many teachers struggling with the challenges of covering their bills while teaching in the Catholic schools, this can no longer remain an acceptable reply. Some forecasts predict a massive flight from the Catholic schools by qualified teachers should opportunities again open up in secular schools. A lot of teachers are in a holding pattern, waiting for better opportunities.
If these teachers -- most of whom are women, all of whom are true professionals -- walk away, the future of Catholic schools will be mighty dim.
Parents have already voted with their pocketbooks.
According to the just-completed study by the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops on elementary and secondary schools: "... Between the 2000 and the 2010 school years, 1,603 schools were reported closed or consolidated (19.7 percent). The number of students declined by 533,697 (20.1 percent). Elementary schools have felt the most serious impacts."
When officials are asked about the steady downturn in enrollment, responses point directly to the behavior of priests and the accompanying financial and legal impact of their diocese's ongoing abilities to subsidize tuition. Add that to the challenges of the recession, and parents are finding less expensive alternatives.
The Archbishop of Seattle has the ability to construct a new, contiguous template to bring all his schools under a new umbrella to share revenue, consolidate universal and equal benefits, create unique curriculum, support collective bargaining and listen to the voices of those too afraid to speak up and demand more for themselves and their students under the present organizational fabrication.
The flock is looking for its shepherd.