Ms. [SHARON] HOURIGAN: I saw the teachers that were, you know, sitting in broken chairs and, you know, falling out of them half the time, and they would spend their money on supplies for the classroom. They would take their free time to tutor the kids, and it was just incredibly appalling to me that after all of this time, after 30 years of this kind of service, that they would be treated so shabbily \u201d\u201d just appalling.<\/p>\n
[LUCKY] SEVERSON: Denying the union was not a risky venture because the diocese knew the law, as it is now, is on its side. In 1979, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that Catholic teachers were not protected by the National Labor Relations Act because they weren\u2019t included in it. But when the act was written, the vast majority of Catholic teachers were nuns and priests. Now it\u2019s different. Today nine out of 10 teachers are lay teachers.<\/p>\n
In a last ditch effort to get union protection under state law, the Pennsylvania House is debating legislation, known as House Bill 2626, which is similar to laws already enacted in three states. It would force the diocese to bargain collectively with teachers\u2019 unions in religious schools of all faiths and allow them to bring grievances to the Pennsylvania Labor Relations Board \u201d\u201d a bill the diocese strongly opposes.<\/p>\n
Prof. [BRIAN] BENESTAD: If the Catholic schools are required to recognize the union, then you\u2019re going to have government, you know, intervening in the school, making decisions about whether the bishops\u2019 invocation of doctrine is really genuine.<\/p>\n