ACT 1776

The members of the Association of Catholic Teachers met early this afternoon to hear from the ACT Negotiating Team the details of a tentative agreement reached early this morning. The teachers ratified the new contract 528 to 300.

Major gains contained in the two year agreement include salary increases of $1500 and $1700 and retention of the current medical and prescription plans. The Early Retirement provisions remain in the contract and teacher friendly working conditions language was reinstated.

Teachers returned to their schools after the ratification vote to attend a Teacher Organization Day.

Posted Sept. 4, 2006 by Irene

At 8:00 PM tonight, the Association of Catholic Teachers declared an impasse in its negotiations with the Secondary School System. We are very far apart on a great many items. Interestingly enough, these are the same issues the System presented to the Association's members in a September 1st letter. There has been no movement on any of these items.

The Association stated quite clearly that we cannot and will not recommend the System's proposal to our members.

We told the System that we would be at our Office preparing for the General Membership Meeting, scheduled for 11:00 AM Tuesday, September 5th at Penns Landing Caterers. We said if they had anything further for us, any serious offer, we would appreciate hearing from them.

A call came in to the ACT Office from the Secretary for Catholic Education asking the ACT Team to come back to the bargaining table. He assured us that he wanted to work to get a fair and just contract for the teachers. We will be meeting with the Secretary at 10:00 PM tonight.

Posted Sept. 3, 2006 by Irene

Proposals on all the major issues were exchanged, but no agreements were reached.

See you at the General Membership Meeting on Tuesday morning, September 5, at 11:00 AM

Posted Sept. 2, 2006 by Irene

The Association's Negotiating Team met today to review the status of the contract proposals, especially in light of the 3 page letter mailed to each teacher by the Secretary for Catholic Education and the Superintendent of Schools. Since the Secretary for Catholic Education and the Superintendnet mention the word "final" several times throughout the letter, there seems to be a great deal of confusion among our members as to whether the terms presented in the System's letter were, in fact, the System's final proposal. The Association has asked the System to clarify this, because, if the System has already presented its final proposal, there is nothing further for the Teams to discuss.

In negotiating directly with the teachers and by-passing the ACT Negotiating Team, the System has engaged in the worst form of bad faith bargaining. Add to this the fact that the System misquoted the Association's proposals. We sincerely hope that this was inadvertent on the System's part and not an attempt to further complicate negotiations.

Because the Association and the System are, at this late date, so far apart on all the major issues, the Association has formally requested that the Secondary School System agree to professional mediation.

The General Membership Meeting will take place on Tuesday, September 5, 2006 at 11:00 AM at Penns Landing Caterers.

Posted Sept. 1, 2006 by Irene

Negotiations ended Friday night at 9:15 PM and are scheduled to resume at 1:00 PM Saturday.

Posted Aug. 31, 2006 by Irene

The Labor-Management Agreement between the Association and the System expires at midnight tonight, August 31st.

Both sides agreed to extend the contract and negotiations will continue Friday and through the Labor Day Weekend.

During today's session, proposals were exchanged, but,again, no progress was made.

Posted Aug. 29, 2006 by Irene

The ACT Team met with the System's Team on Tuesday, August 29th, from 3 PM to 8:45 PM No significant progress was made.

ACT's Senior Delegates will be meeting with the Negotiating Team Wednesday morning at 11:30 A. M. at the ACT Office to receive an update on Negotiations and to prepare for the September 5th General Membership Meeting.

Posted Aug. 26, 2006 by Rita

I do not need to tell any teacher that there is only one week before the current Labor-Management Agreement expires. Unfortunately, we are no closer to a settlement. The Association and the System continue to be very far apart on major contract issues, most notably, salary, medical and other benefits, the early retirement provisions, the proposed deletion of all past practices (zipper clause) and the penalty-driven changes in working conditions.

There are three negotiating sessions left before the contract expiration date of August 31st. Hopefully, there will be enough time for the System to reconsider its many punitive proposals and replace them with ones that more closely reflect the respect the System claims that it has for its teachers.

Senior Delegates will be meeting with the ACT Negotiating Team and Executive Board at the ACT Office on Wednesday, August 30th at 11:30 A. M.

The General Membership Meeting is at 11:00 A. M., Tuesday, September 5th, at Penns Landing Caterers.

2006 ACT Negotiating Team
The following ACT members have been selected to represent the Association of Catholic Teachers in the upcoming negotiations.
Maureen Colanzi	Cardinal O'hara
Michael Cunningham	Bishop Shanahan
Ellen Donato	Archbishop Prendergast
Michael Galante	Lansdale Catholic
Charles Panepresso	Archbishop Ryan
Joseph Schuler	ACT Staff
Rita C. Schwartz	ACT Staff
Irene Tori	ACT Staff
John Zoccola	Archbishop Wood

LATEST UPDATE ON NEGOTIATIONS - SEPTEMBER 5, 2006