Philly’s Catholic high school teachers have a new three-year contract with raises
Teachers will get raises of at least $2,200 a year, and the contract includes job security for full-time teachers.
Teachers at Philadelphia-area Catholic high schools have a new contract.
Members of the Association of Catholic Teachers — which represents 480 staff at 15 high schools in Philadelphia, Montgomery, Bucks, Chester, and Delaware Counties — endorsed a new pact with the Archdiocese of Philadelphia at a Thursday meeting.
The deal includes raises of at least $2,200 per year, and more money for employees working as department heads and those running extracurricular clubs. Members will see “modest increases” in their medical benefits in the last two years of the three-year contract, officials said in a statement.
Updated salary information wasn’t immediately available, but teacher salaries had ranged from $42,200 to $87,305, depending on education and years of experience, in the current contract.
The contract approval came down to the wire: The educators’ current pact would have expired Thursday night. Teachers had roundly rejected an Archdiocesan proposal in June; President Irene Tori said that proposal had “several poison pills” that were nonstarters for her members.
Chief among them was the widespread use of part-time teachers, Tori said.
“The way they had it in their proposal originally, part-time teachers would end up more than likely taking full-time teachers’ jobs,” said Tori. “But for us, there was no way that was going to happen.”
Ultimately, the Archdiocese agreed to job protections for full-time teachers while still allowing some part-time educators in a limited capacity, as the contract has long allowed.
After talks began in February, negotiators worked for months, finally reaching a tentative deal on Monday. Members gathered Thursday to vote on the pact, which the union’s negotiating team and executive board both backed unanimously.
Tori said the deal was a win for her members, and a relief for all.
“We have labor peace for three years,” said Tori. “Parents can rest assured that their children are going to be starting school on time for the next three years.”
Students return to class Tuesday at the 15 Archdiocesan high schools — in Philadelphia: Father Judge, St. Hubert, Little Flower, Archbishop Ryan, Saints John Neumann and Maria Goretti, Roman Catholic, and West Catholic; in Bucks County: Conwell-Egan and Archbishop Wood; in Chester County: Bishop Shanahan; in Delaware County: Archbishop Carroll, Monsignor Bonner and Archbishop Prendergast, and Cardinal O’Hara; in Montgomery County: Lansdale Catholic and Pope John Paul II.