Schoolteachers in ten Catholic high schools all over New York and New Jersey, including Maria Regina, have been striking for better pay and pension. However, teachers at Maria Regina High School say the larger issue at hand is respect.

Eileen Nattiace, a math teacher at Maria Regina High School, said, “We want better pay, better benefits, and to be treated with dignity for the job that we do.”

According to the New York Times, Catholic high school teachers earn between $29,893 and $41,745 a year, depending on experience. The costly prices of housing in Westchester and Rockland Counties make it almost impossible to live on such a salary. The Archdiocese—the religious organization charged with running Catholic schools in particular districts—had offered a salary increase of eight percent over three years to which the Lay Faculty Association union could not agree.

At the beginning of the year, the Archdiocese announced that it was going to change the teachers’ healthcare plan to a different provider under which teachers would be made to pay 20 percent of the premiums. For some teachers, this meant they would have to pay anywhere from double the amount they currently pay for their healthcare if they are single, to five times as much if they have a family.

“I know that these teachers’ salaries are particularly low,” Holly Silvestri, a Spanish teacher at the Solomon Schechter School of Westchester said. “And I really feel for people if they’ve got kids or if they live in this area. It’s really difficult to live alone on their salary, let alone to have a family.”

A proposal offered by the Archdiocese increases the health premiums to a lesser degree. Yet, it is still a hardship for many.

Sister Danielle, principal of Maria Regina wants to help, but feels limited in what she can do. The money for many of the teachers’ salaries comes from the students’ tuition. “How high can we raise tuition without losing families because it is becoming an education only for the rich?” Sister Danielle said. “Many of our families are of average income and cannot afford higher tuition.”

In response to the strike, students at Maria Regina have had “learning blocks.” They stay in school for half a day and learn in a way that is organized differently from their usual schedule.

“The learning must go on,” Sister Danielle said. “The students still have SATs and exams to take regardless of the strike.”

Jeanne Whelan, a history teacher and union leader at Maria Regina, disagreed. “[The school administration] works hard to maintain order in the building,” she said. “They want to have the pretense that learning is happening in there without the teachers. It’s not.”

Most students at Maria Regina and their parents have been extremely supportive of their teachers. They bring the strikers coffee and bagels, and high-five them at the end of the day. There is also a lot of support from passers-by, especially from Verizon and UPS employees, who have had their own recent labor disputes.

Another big issue is pension. The Archdiocese’s current pension provides little for retirement income. For example, a teacher who has worked for the Archdiocese for 25 years would only receive about $13,000 a year in pension benefits.

The new plan would eventually double the teachers’ annual retirement benefits. In addition, it would not cost the Archdiocese anything, because teachers would finance it through payroll deductions.

“We are on strike because we know we deserve better wages, a pension that doesn’t cost our employer anything, and basically because we deserve more respect from our employer,” said Whelan.

Union leaders have not said whether the strike will continue, or for how long. Nevertheless, if it goes on much longer, the schools may have more problems than they originally anticipated.