Freedom and Parochial Schools

During the past year, for the first time since it was created, the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) has been attempting to compel church-related schools to submit to its authority. Already the litigation is overwhelming. The immediate cause of this is the increasing unionization of lay teachers in Christian schools. Teachers’ unions have petitioned the NLRB to order Catholic bishops and pastors to hold NLRB elections that would determine whether the lay teachers wished to be represented exclusively by a union in bargaining with their employer.

The NLRB has responded affirmatively, even aggressively, to teachers’- union requests for federal intervention. During the past 12 months, in a series of unprecedented actions, the NLRB has declared its jurisdiction over religious schools in the Archdioceses of Baltimore, Newark, Chicago, Philadelphia, and Los Angeles; the Dioceses of Brooklyn, Fort Wayne—South Bend, Ind., and Gary, Ind.; and the entire state of Hawaii. But now, several cases challenging the legality of that intervention are being fought in the courts.

RK

About the Author

Russell Kirk

Featured Tags

During the past year, for the first time since it was created, the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) has been attempting to compel church-related schools to submit to its authority. Already the litigation is overwhelming. The immediate cause of this is the increasing unionization of lay teachers in Christian schools. Teachers’ unions have petitioned the NLRB to order Catholic bishops and pastors to hold NLRB elections that would determine whether the lay teachers wished to be represented exclusively by a union in bargaining with their employer.

The NLRB has responded affirmatively, even aggressively, to teachers’- union requests for federal intervention. During the past 12 months, in a series of unprecedented actions, the NLRB has declared its jurisdiction over religious schools in the Archdioceses of Baltimore, Newark, Chicago, Philadelphia, and Los Angeles; the Dioceses of Brooklyn, Fort Wayne—South Bend, Ind., and Gary, Ind.; and the entire state of Hawaii. But now, several cases challenging the legality of that intervention are being fought in the courts.