The Archdiocese of Philadelphia and the Association of Catholic Teachers announce that a new, three-year contract agreement has been agreed upon and ratified by the teachers at a General Membership meeting held on May 28, 2008 at 4:30 PM. The agreement takes effect on September 1, 2008 and affects the 930 secondary school teachers in the 20 schools operated by the Archdiocese of Philadelphia.

In the Fall of 2007, both parties agreed to focus only on financial aspects of the contract in an effort to streamline and to settle the contract prior to the close of school. The negotiating teams met extensively over the last several days in an effort to achieve this goal and the tentative agreement was reached this afternoon.

The agreement provides for salary increases of $1,750, $1,900 and $2,000, representing a raise of approximately 11.9 % over the three years in the contract. The previous agreement provided increases of $1,500 and $1,700.

To address rising medical costs, there will be increases in employee contributions in the first and third year of the contract and there will be a change in the medical plan to increase doctor and prescription co-pays in the second year of the contract. Both sides agreed to promote wellness programs offered by the medical carriers.

We are pleased that these successful contract negotiations will provide assurances to the teachers and to the students and their parents that our schools will open on time this coming September.

For more information about the Catholic schools of the Archdiocese of Philadelphia go to www.keepingfaithinmind.org

For Immediate Release: May 28, 2008

Contact:

Donna Farrell
Archdiocese of Philadelphia
215-651-3574 (cell)
215-587-3747 (office)

Rita C. Schwartz
Association of Catholic Teachers
215-407-9688 (cell)
215-568-4175 (office)

Contact
Donna Farrell
Director of Communications
215-587-3747