Michigan Catholic Schools To Remain Union Free

From the Thomas More Law Center's web site:

Court of Appeals Blocks Catholic High School Teachers From Unionizing

Thu, Aug 18, 2005

ANN ARBOR, MI. – Teachers at the 675 -student, all-boys Brother Rice Catholic High School, located in Bloomfield Township, MI, have lost their bid to become Michigan’s first unionized parochial school.

Last year the Michigan Employment Relations Commission (MERC) ordered Brother Rice High School to allow teachers to vote on whether they wanted union representation by the Michigan Education Association. However, the Thomas More Law Center, a national public interest law firm based in Ann Arbor, took on the representation of the school and appealed the MERC ruling to the Michigan Court of Appeals.

This week a unanimous panel of the Court of Appeals struck down the MERC ruling on the basis that the state board had no jurisdiction over lay teachers in parochial schools.

Richard Thompson, President and Chief Counsel of the Law Center, commented on the decision, “The Thomas More Law Center agreed to represent Brother Rice because of the broad implications the MERC decision would have on the religious freedom for every church-operated school in the state. I applaud the court panel for its sensitivity to the religious implications of this case. Unions many times espouse public policies inimical to the doctrine of faith-based institutions.”

Patrick Gillen, the Law Center lawyer handling the case, added, "The decision is a victory for religious liberty generally as well as the whole community of faith brought together by Brother Rice High School. It leaves the parents, students, faculty and staff of Brother Rice free to pursue the highest aspirations of religious schools, service to their faith and each other, without interference from the state.”

Brother Rice High School is a private Catholic parochial school run by the Congregation of Christian Brothers, a group of lay individuals, founded in 1802, who operate nearly 300 Catholic schools around the world. The faculty, mostly lay teachers, are not all Catholic, but they are responsible to promote faith-building. Teachers at the school are expected to begin and end classes with prayer. A daily religion class is part of the curriculum.

(emphasis added)