Archdiocese teachers OK 2-year-deal, pay hikes

Classes start Wednesday for 17 high schools

PHILADELPHIA » It was a close call, but the Association of Catholic Teachers Local 1776 narrowly approved a new twoyear contract Tuesday morning, thus averting a potential strike by teachers in 17 archdiocesan high schools.

Classes are set to start Wednesday.

ACT members voted 268-247 to approve the newly worked out contract with the Secondary School System of the Archdiocese of Philadelphia that will give an annual salary increase of $1,200 to approximately 600 full-time lay teachers while keeping medical plan and employee contributions the same.

“The meeting was very lively,” said ACT 1776 President Rita Schwartz after the vote.

According to Schwartz, the main issue was the process for evaluating teachers, which has now been handed over to building administrators by the system. Previously, department heads had also evaluated the teachers.

This is the first multi-year contract for ACT 1776 since

signing a three-year contract starting with the 201112 school year. The last four years have been one-year contracts.

Schwartz had stressed to the Daily Times late last week that she was fighting for more than a one-year contract for her teachers. The union boss was hoping for a four-year deal.

Tuesday’s approval comes after months of negotiations that spawned more than a dozen joint sessions between the parties since the spring, including a number of meetings over the Labor Day weekend.

“The Office of Catholic Education (OCE) is pleased that the general membership of ACT ratified the contract today,” said OCE Chief Negotiator Jadon Budd in a prepared statement following the vote. “It is the agreement we had hoped to obtain for the current and future benefit of everyone most especially our students and school families.

“Since April 2018, the focus of the OCE negotiating team has been to achieve a contract that provides the best possible educational environment for the young people entrusted to our care while respecting the sacrifice and dedication of our educators. We are grateful to the teachers for ratifying the agreement which included the changes we were looking for in professional responsibilities while providing increases in salary and benefits.”

After Tuesday’s vote, teachers returned to their high schools for a prescheduled organization day.

With another strike averted approximately 12,000 students in the high schools will continue on to their latest year of education without deviating from the schedule, including those at Monsignor Bonner & Archbishop Prendergast, Cardinal O’Hara, West Catholic Preparatory and Bishop Shanahan high schools.

Monsignor Bonner & Archbishop Prendergast Catholic High School in Upper Darby, one of 17 archdiocesan high schools where teachers have approved a new, twoyear contract.