St. Louis' Catholic schoolteachers are ready to rap some knuckles

Instead of rapping Archbishop Raymond Burke on the knuckles, Catholic elementary school teachers are socking him in the wallet. The union that represents the Archdiocese of St. Louis' 125 parish elementary school teachers is asking area labor unions to withhold donations of money and volunteers to the church until Burke agrees to negotiate with the Association of Catholic Elementary Educators (ACEE), Local 1312.

While ACEE may have some legitimate concerns, it seems that the most important issue is one of salary - Catholics school teachers don't make as much as they could if they were working in public schools. One has to wonder then, why do those people staty, if they could earn more money elsewhere? Most people that I know who have an urge to pursue the best paying jobs will do so, provided they possess the qualifications to land the higher paying job. There are also some who are not concerned with making the most money, but are contented with other aspects of a job. It seems disingenuous for some of these teachers to complain about the arrangement the archdiocese has made especially since the teachers claim to be able to make more money elsewhere.

I understand this is old news as I have indicated that ACEE is a group supported by Catholic Action Network. Here I think is the real crux of the issue:

"Aside from the fact that we're women and we're asking them to be equals with us," she says, "we are also asking them to be accountable -- and they do believe they are above accountability."

Article is here.