Teachers union leader for 3 Catholic high schools: Negotiations are at a standstill

The union leader for 216 teachers at three Catholic high schools in the Diocese of Rockville Centre says negotiations with the diocese on a new contract are at an impasse, and the group is requesting a state-appointed mediator.

The three-year contract for teachers at St. John the Baptist in West Islip, Holy Trinity in Hicksville and Bishop McGann-Mercy in Riverhead -- all run by the diocese -- expired in August, said Ciro Quattrocchi, president of the Lay Faculty Association Local 1261, which represents the teachers.

Negotiations on a new contract started in the spring but are at a standstill, he said.

The diocese hoped to avoid going to a mediator and wanted to resolve the issue through continued talks, diocesan spokesman Sean Dolan said Friday.

"We welcome any of the efforts toward remediation that the union requested," he said. "Hopefully we can come to an agreement that would be fair to all sides."

The teachers are considering various job actions, including picketing, Quattrocchi said. They already are wearing LFA buttons and dressing in black on Fridays to show support for the union effort.

"Our teachers have dedicated their lives to teach at these [Diocese of] Rockville Centre schools, knowing their salaries would never equal those of the public sector," Quattrocchi said. "However, the dignity of every teacher is at stake. How much more do the teachers have to sacrifice? Our teachers have families to support and bills to pay too."

Dolan said the diocese is trying to be fair to the teachers, but that it does not have the resources of public school districts.

"We're in a different environment than the public schools," he said. "We don't have a tax base we can call upon to fund needed increases in salaries or capital expenses."

The high schools are funded primarily through tuition, which generally is about $9,500 a year per student.

Diocesan high school teachers earn an average starting salary of $38,000 a year and top out at about $75,000, Quattrocchi said.

That compares with a starting salary of $48,693 and a top salary of $123,518 in Islip, which Superintendent Susan A. Schnebel described as a midlevel district. Schnebel is president of the Suffolk County School Superintendents Association.

The Catholic school teachers are asking for a 6 percent increase per year for three years. The diocese countered with a proposed increase of 1.5 percent for the first two years and 2 percent the third year, according to Quattrocchi.

While the 6 percent might seem high, Quattrocchi said, the teachers have had many "givebacks" in prior contracts.

For instance, unlike in public schools, they no longer have annual "step increases" in which a teacher's salary automatically goes up with each year of experience. Pension contributions by the diocese have dropped from 12 percent to 4 percent, he said, while the health care costs that teachers pay have increased.

Dolan said he could not comment on specifics of the negotiations.

Bishop William Murphy, he said, "has to balance what is equitable and fair with what is reasonable and not overly burdensome upon the supporters of the schools."