Diocese Implementing Program To Benefit All School Employees
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The Diocese of Scranton is implementing a new employee relations program that will cover all employees in its Catholic schools.

The program will involve the formation of Employee Councils, Wage and Benefit Committees, Health Care Sub-Committees and Grievance Committees for each of the four regional school systems that were established last year in the restructuring of Diocesan Catholic schools.

These groups, which will be comprised of teacher and support staff representatives from each school, will meet on a regular basis with members of the Regional System Boards, officials from the Diocesan Catholic Schools Office and the Diocesan human resources director to discuss wages, benefits, and grievances.

“This program will continue our commitment to provide fair and just employment for teachers and everyone else who works in our Catholic schools,” said Bishop Joseph F. Martino. “It will ensure that we can maintain a strong Catholic identity in our schools within an atmosphere of meaningful dialogue and sincere collaboration with all of the dedicated employees who share in our mission.

“We are entrusting the faith and academic formation of our young people to the teachers and others who work in our schools. That provides all the motivation we need to treat those employees as fairly as we can.”

Under the previous school structure, employee relations were handled through a variety of separate arrangements between the employees and individual pastors or boards of pastors. In some schools, faculty engaged in collective bargaining, while other employees (including, in some cases, other teachers) did not. In the majority of the schools, there was no collective bargaining. Compensation and personnel policies were often determined by the resources of a given school community and past practice there.

The new employee relations program will bring a consistent format to the entire school system. It will cover teachers as well as aides, administrators, office staff, food service and maintenance personnel. Employees at all schools will be able to provide input through their representatives on the Employee Councils and various committees for wages and benefits, health care, and grievances.

A human resource consulting firm will be retained to specifically deal with the area of compensation. Parente/HR Services, an extension of Parente Randolph Company, will work with everyone involved to address the compensation inequities that have developed in the schools over the years. The consultant will function as a neutral expert in the field to represent the best interests of all parties.

Employee relations was among the first issues taken up by the Holy Cross, Holy Redeemer, and St. John Neumann Regional School Boards, which were formed as part of the restructuring to guide the operation of the schools. The initial meeting of the Notre Dame Board was postponed because of bad weather and will be rescheduled.

The Boards have expressed a commitment to the welfare of all school employees, and they sought to ensure that the employees would have a voice in future discussions about wages, benefits and other issues. The Diocese presented an employee relations program and it was approved by the three Boards that have reviewed the plan.

Consequently, the Holy Cross, Holy Redeemer, and St. John Neumann Boards voted to decline a request by the Scranton Diocese Association of Catholic Teachers (SDACT) to be recognized as a bargaining agent to represent teachers. This request was not made to the Notre Dame Board; the schools in its system had not previously been involved with SDACT. The Notre Dame Board’s review of the employee relations program is pending.

These decisions regarding the implementation of an employee relations program and SDACT recognition were subsequently approved by the Corporation Boards for the three systems. The members of the Corporation Boards are the Bishop, the Vicar for Administration, Chancellor, Episcopal Vicar for the Pastoral Region (in which a given regional school system is located), the Diocesan Secretary for Financial Services, and the Diocesan Secretary for Catholic Education/Superintendent of Schools.

Under the bylaws of the governance structure for the new school systems, the Corporation Boards (also known as Members of the Corporation) retain certain reserved powers, including the approval of all personnel structures, organizations and contracts pertinent to the operation of the schools.

The System Boards and the Diocese believe that the employee relations program that has been developed represents the best option for all parties to discuss wages, benefits and grievances in an atmosphere of trust and collegiality.

“The members of the System Boards are to be commended for addressing this challenging issue in a forthright and timely manner,” Bishop Martino said. “They have demonstrated their trust in our program, and we pledge to honor their intention that all employees in our schools are treated with the utmost respect.”

The Bishop noted that the four new Catholic school systems are still in their infancy and have to be nurtured in the right way.

“This is a critical and sensitive stage in the history of our schools,” he said. “We all need to come together to support and foster affordable and accessible Catholic education in the Diocese of Scranton at this time.

“The new Employee Councils give everyone in our Catholic schools not only an occasion to identify challenges, but more importantly an opportunity to resolve these challenges and to work together to strengthen our schools. Our esteemed school professional staff and support workers all know the delicate financial condition of the Diocese of Scranton right now. They understand very well that our four Catholic school systems cannot rely on tax revenue or profits. They also realize that tuition costs which spiral endlessly upwards will be the death of our schools.

“I look forward to seeing the Employee Councils as another kind of Pentecost moment throughout our Diocese. Under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, our Catholic school personnel, representing the vocations of clergy, religious, and laity, will strengthen our young fledgling Catholic school systems while addressing the just needs of our school employees.

“Our Catholic school children need to be taught the Catholic faith through word and deed. What better example could we give our Catholic school students than everyone working together through the Employee Councils to address the schools’ challenges.

“May Our Lady, Help of Christians, who witnessed the power of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost and the consequent growth of the Church, pray for us as we make affordable, accessible Catholic schools a strong reality in the 21st century.”

EMPLOYEE RELATIONS PROGRAM FOR CATHOLIC SCHOOLS 

Employee Councils: 

The employee representative body for each of the four Regional School Systems will be in the form of an Employee Council. The Employee Council will consist of representatives from each school in the system and will be comprised of both faculty and support staff employees. The faculty members will represent varying levels of seniority. The representatives for each school will be chosen by their peers through a secret ballot process and upon completion, the System Board will be notified in writing of the names of the representatives. Terms for members of the Employee Councils will be developed by and mutually agreed to by the System Boards and Employee Councils.

The Employee Councils will meet quarterly with the System Board Executive Committees, representatives from the Office of Catholic Schools and the Diocesan Director of Human Resources. At the request of the System Boards or the Employee Councils, additional meetings may be required and will be scheduled as needed. The purpose of these meetings will be to discuss general employment issues in the workplace. All relevant issues and recommendations will then be reported to the System Boards or other appropriate entity for further consideration and resolution.

Wage and Benefit Committees: 

Both the System Board and the Employee Council will select members to jointly serve on a Wage and Benefit Committee for each system. The Wage and Benefit Committee will consist of three members from the Employee Council and three members from the System Board. The Diocesan Director of Human Resources will serve as an ex officio member of the committee. The committee shall meet quarterly with a goal to promote a constructive dialogue on the issues of wages and benefits in order to develop a plan that is fair and equitable for the employees and in turn addresses the commitment of the System Board to be fiscally responsible. Any recommendations from the Wage and Benefit Committee will be brought to the full System Board for further consideration.

To assist the System Boards, the Employee Councils, and the Wage and Benefit Committees, a human resource consulting firm will be retained to specifically deal with the area of compensation. Parente/HR Services, an extension of Parente Randolph Company, will work with everyone involved to address the compensation inequities that have developed in the schools over the years. The consultant should be viewed as a neutral expert in the field that will represent the best interests of all parties.

Health Care Sub-Committees: 

Both the System Board and the Employee Council will select members to jointly serve on a Health Care Sub-Committee for each system. The dynamic nature of the health care industry and the impact it has on both employers and employees requires a committee structure dedicated specifically to health care issues. Again, the Health Care Sub-Committee will consist of three members from the Employee Council and three members from the System Board. The Diocesan Director of Human Resources will serve as an ex officio member of the sub-committee. The sub-committee shall meet as often as necessary to perform its functions. The purpose of the sub-committee will be to examine existing health care plans, benefits, providers and delivery mechanisms that will continue to provide high quality, cost effective health care benefits to eligible employees and their families. Any recommendation from the Health Care Sub-Committee will be brought to both the Wage and Benefit Committee and the full System Board for further consideration.

To this end, a health care consulting firm will be retained to work with the System Boards, the Employee Councils, and the Health Care Sub-Committees. Elite Brokerage Services, Inc. will serve as a neutral expert that will assist all parties in achieving established health care goals and objectives.

Grievance Committees: 

In any school system or work environment in general, honest disagreements will arise. Accordingly, a procedure needs to be developed in order to provide for due process and to resolve complaints in a professional and respectful manner. The development of such a process will be achieved through the establishment of a Grievance Committee for each system. The Grievance Committee will consist of four members of the Employee Council and three members from the System Board. The Diocesan Director of Human Resources will serve as an ex officio member of the committee. The members of the committee will work together to institute procedures for employees to file complaints and provide them the due process that employees deserve.

Members from the Employee Council and from the System Board can serve on no more than two committees.

2007-08 SALARIES AND BENEFITS FOR CATHOLIC SCHOOL EMPLOYEES 

For the 2007-08 school year, a new salary and benefit package was implemented for teachers and those school support staff, such as teacher aides and clerical, business, food service and maintenance personnel, who are classified as full-time regular employees. 

• Each employee received a salary increase of 3 percent. Under the new employee relations program, a human resource consulting firm will be retained to specifically deal with the area of compensation. Parente/HR Services, an extension of Parente Randolph Company, will work with everyone involved to address the compensation inequities that have developed in the schools over the years. The consultant will function as a neutral expert in the field to represent the best interests of all parties.
• Employees have quality health care coverage for themselves and their families through the Diocesan self-insurance medical program. This is the Blue Care PPO (formerly known as Access Care II) program administered by Blue Cross of Northeastern Pennsylvania (First Priority Life Insurance Company). The employee co-pay is $20 for a routine doctor visit and $30 for a specialist. The co-pay for prescription drugs ranges from $20 to $35, depending on the drug. The annual cost breakdown is:

                                                Cost to Diocese      Employee Contribution

Individual                                       $6,394.68                        $960.00    

Employee and Spouse                     $15,163.92                      $1,500.00    

Family                                          $18,032.40                      $1,500.00

• Both short- and long-term disability insurance are offered at no cost to the employee. Short-term benefits (70% of salary for 20 weeks) begin after employee has missed 9 full weeks of work due to illness or accidental injury (not work-related). Long-term benefits are 60% of salary. The Diocese pays $216 per employee per year to fund these benefits.
• All current pension plans are being honored.
• Employees are allowed to carry over sick days they had accrued under the previous school structure. They will also be allowed to accumulate an established maximum amount pending the outcome of several ongoing arbitration cases. In any event, the minimum accumulation will be 45 days.
• All employees are offered dental (Delta Dental Premiere Plan) and vision (Davis Vision Plan) benefits. Employee must pay for this coverage.
• Children of teachers receive free tuition at any Diocesan Catholic school. For example, a student at Holy Cross High School (Dunmore or Scranton campus) whose parent is a teacher at Sacred Heart Elementary School in Carbondale, will receive free tuition at Holy Cross. Support staff are given a discount on tuition: $500 per child in elementary school, and $1,000 per child in high school.
• In most cases, this package offers more benefits than teachers and support staff had been receiving. It is true that some teachers now have a co-pay for health coverage, but this is now standard for employees in virtually every profession.
• Total budgeted expenses for all Diocesan Catholic schools for 2007-08 are $49,514,143. Salaries and benefits for teachers and other school employees are $34,948,161, which is 70.58% of the total school budgets.