LMRA Held Inapplicable To Parochial Schools

In Boston Archdiocese Teachers Association v. Archdiocesan Central High School, decided by the US District Court in Massachusetts on August 15, the court dismissed a complaint seeking to enforce the teachers' collective bargaining contract against a group of Catholic high schools and the Archdiocese of Boston. The suit was brought under Section 301 of the Labor Management Relations Act (29 USC Sec. 185). Finding that serious First Amendment problems would arise if the court accepted jurisdiction in collective bargaining disputes involving church-operated schools, the court interpreted the LMRA provision as not covering such schools. In doing so, it relied on a similar interpretation of the National Labor Relations Act by the US Supreme Court in the 1979 case of NLRB v. Catholic Bishop of Chicago. [Thanks to Steven Sholk for this information.]