South Jersey Catholic high-school teachers on strike

If Chris Ehrmann wanted to be a wealthy man, he says that he never would have become a teacher at a Catholic high school.

But Ehrmann, a Latin, philosophy and Scripture instructor at Camden Catholic High School, in Cherry Hill, says that the 161 Camden diocese teachers on strike at three high schools have been asked to sacrifice too much.

"We're not money-hungry," said Ehrmann, vice president of the Catholic Teachers Union, as he picketed outside the school yesterday. "We just want what's fair. You have to show us some sort of respect."

Negotiations between the diocese and teachers at four South Jersey high schools over salary increases and benefits broke down on Wednesday. On Friday, the CTU announced that teachers would strike at Camden Catholic; Paul VI, in Haddon Township; and Holy Spirit, in Absecon, Atlantic County.

The Camden Diocese chose to keep the schools open yesterday, which CTU President William Blumenstein called a tactic to test the teachers' "resolve."

"They should close the schools and sit down and talk with us," said Blumenstein, a mathematics instructor at Paul VI.

The diocese says that it has offered the teachers a 5.25 percent raise over two years, with no changes to health benefits for teachers hired before Sept. 1. Teachers hired after that date will pay a 5 percent share of their health-care premiums.

"We believe it's a very moderate deduction," said Andrew Walton, a diocese spokesman.

The teachers' union is seeking a 9 percent raise and calls the benefit deduction "shortsighted" considering that the salary disparity between public and private schools already deters job seekers.

"Our average salary is $43,500," said Blumenstein. "That's less than what some public-school teachers are starting out at. They are driving away the future here."

Walton said that there was a level of "discomfort" by some union members over the strike. "It looks like there's a number of teachers who have gone in despite the strike," he said.

Blumenstein said that only seven teachers decided to go into work.

He and Ehrmann said that the union had asked parents not to send their children to school during the strike, both to support their cause and because they wouldn't get much of an education.

"I think the parents, for the most part, have been supportive," Ehrmann said, as some motorists beeped at the pickets.

Walton said that 80 percent of students were in attendance at Paul VI and Camden Catholic yesterday, while 96 percent of the students at Holy Spirit attended school.

Blumenstein said that many students showed up for school to compete in sports activities.

"They are using that to threaten them," he said.

Walton said that the 2,900 students who attend the three schools will be on alternating schedules until the situation is resolved but added that no further negotiations have been scheduled.