ST. LOUIS — Three St. Louis Catholic high schools are closed Monday amid ongoing contract negotiations between the union that represents more than 100 teachers and the Archdiocese of St. Louis, according to the union president.
Kathryn Williams-Heese, the president of the St. Louis Archdiocesan Teachers Association, said staffing shortages and unresolved contract issues affecting teachers at Bishop DuBourg High School, Rosati-Kain High School and St. Mary's High School led to classes being canceled. Classes at Cardinal Ritter and St. Pius X high schools are not affected.
On Sunday, dozens of Catholic high school teachers joined in prayer in front of the Cathedral Basilica before Mass, praying for a resolution to the ongoing labor dispute with the Archdiocese.
"We gathered today in prayer and solidarity that the Archbishop and his representatives would work to resolve the issues at hand in good faith with us," Williams-Heese said.
The teacher's union and the Archdiocese began negotiating in October, but so far have failed to reach an agreement. The existing contract expired on March 4.
Williams-Heese, who is also a teacher at DuBourg, said a strike is still a possibility if the two sides fail to reach an agreement. She added that more than 90% of union members voted down the Archdiocese's final offer on March 9.
The earliest the Archdiocese would resume negotiations is March 30, Williams-Heese said.
In the meantime, teachers were given at-will contract offers by the Archdiocese. Williams-Heese said the contract offers have a signing deadline of April 1 at the latest and March 29 at the earliest. Williams-Heese said they have requested an extension of the deadline but have not heard back from the Archdiocese.
Todd Sweda, the superintendent for secondary education for the Archdiocese, in a letter said the contracts were part of an updated salary scale that would be shared by all five schools. It would increase compensation for teaching additional classes and would increase the amount schools would pay for teachers pursuing graduate degrees.
"Thank you for your commitment and perseverance particularly during the last couple of years as we navigated COVID successfully," the letter said. "You are valued and we are grateful."
The offer that the union members voted down would have given a raise of about $2,600 to starting teacher salaries ($30,387 to $33,000) and a raise of about $5,000 for teachers with 10 years of experience and a master's degree ($36,646 to $41,599).
The pay for more experienced teachers would have decreased by more than $7,000 in the offer from the Archdiocese.
According to the union, the Archdiocese said during negotiations that more experienced teachers would be evaluated individually and could expect raises of about 1%. Williams-Heese said that statement was not in a labor-management agreement because "they want the union busted."
The contract did not include job placement protection for teachers in the event of a school closure.
Williams-Heese released an updated statement on Monday from the St. Louis Archdiocesan Teacher Association about negotiations saying in part, "For over 50 years, the Union and the Archdiocese have had a relationship based on mutual respect, something you would think is a no-brainer for the Catholic Church. Not this year."
"The Archdiocesan teachers represented by SLATA would like to say to the parents and to our students about the need to call out sick: 'The teachers want to be with our students; we want to teach in our schools. But one of the primary lessons we teach students is treating everyone with dignity and respect. Due to the actions by their employer, the Archdiocese and ultimately Archbishop Rozanski, your teachers have not been afforded this dignity and respect. We are extremely concerned about the position of the Archdiocese which is so contrary to Church teaching on social justice and workers’ rights," the statement goes on to read.
The Archdiocese of St. Louis emailed the following statement to 5 On Your Side Tuesday.
"We responded last week to a request from the St. Louis Archdiocesan Teacher Association to meet again with their representatives. A meeting was set at that time for later this week. We appreciate our teachers and look forward to this opportunity to continue discussing and negotiating areas of concern,” the Archdioces of St. Louis wrote.