Anche in Usa gli stipendi degli insegnanti nelle scuole pubbliche sono pił elevati rispetto alle scuole private. Alla faccia della concorrenza!

More than 250 teachers at nine high schools run by the Roman Catholic  Archdiocese of New York struck for a second day yesterday in disagreements over pensions and  pay, forcing one school to close, six to release students as early as the lunch hour,  and two to cut their daily attendance by half.

At most of the schools that opened,  priests, nuns, other clergy members and lay administrators stepped in to teach classes or  supervise the students. At Cathedral High in Manhattan, students followed their  regular schedules without much teacher supervision, as they did on Thursday.  Occasionally, they stuck their heads out of the windows and waved at their teachers outside the  school.

Teachers at a 10th school, Our Lady of Lourdes High School in  Poughkeepsie, who belong to the same union but stopped participating in union activities in  September, did not join the strike yesterday or Thursday. Union leaders at first listed Our  Lady of Lourdes teachers as among the strikers.

Some parents are growing impatient. "I really don't like the  strike," said Josie Onsueng, the mother of Christine, a 10th grader at Cathedral  High. "What the teachers are asking for is fine, but I want this to be resolved  quickly. I want my daughter to go back to school."

Both sides in the talks said pensions were the main stumbling  block to a settlement. Teachers receive pension benefits of roughly $12,000 a year from the  archdiocese after working for 20 years, according to the striking teachers. The union,  the Lay Faculty Association, would like to join a second pension plan administered  through the A.F.L.-C.I.O., its parent organization.

The union said payments would be taken directly from teachers'  paychecks without any matching funds from the archdiocese. This plan would eventually pay  members roughly another $13,000 annually, a union lawyer said. But archdiocesan  officials remain opposed because, they said, the archdiocese will eventually be liable for  any obligations the plan incurred.

"The archdiocese will have legal liabilities in the  future," said Joseph Zwilling, the spokesman for the archdiocese. "The archdiocese  will be the one legally making the contributions to the pension plan. No employer gives two  pensions to its employees."

He argued that the teachers could join the plan as individuals if  they chose, but an A.F.L.-C.I.O. official said that only unions, not individuals, could  participate.

Mr. Zwilling added, "Our bottom line is, if they do not drop  the second pension request, we will not consider further negotiations."

The union's leader, Henry Kielkucki, said the teachers would  continue the strike unless their pension request was met. And other union officials agreed.

"The pension plan doesn't cost them a penny," said  Vinny Doyle, the union representative at Cathedral High School.

High school teachers in the archdiocese earn $29,893 to $41,745 a  year, depending on experience. In comparison, salaries for New York City public school  teachers in all grade levels range from $31,910 to $70,000. Many Catholic school teachers  say they take two or three jobs to make ends meet.

The union has requested a raise of 15 percent over three years,  and the archdiocese has offered 8 percent. The union is receptive to 8 percent but is  resisting the formula for dividing the raises over the three years.

Left by the archdiocese to decide on their individual courses of  action, and with most of their teachers on strike, the high schools chose different  strategies to cope.

Cardinal Hayes High School in the Bronx was closed for the entire  day. Cathedral High, Monsignor Farrell High School in Staten Island, Cardinal Spellman  High School in the Bronx, John F. Kennedy Catholic High School in Somers and Maria  Regina High School in Hartsdale released students after noon. Moore Catholic High School  in Staten Island let students go at 2 p.m.

Hours were normal at John S. Burke Catholic High School in Goshen  and Archbishop Stepinac High School in White Plains.

Kennedy High decided to divide its students into two attendance  shifts. Yesterday, only freshmen and juniors had classes, and on Monday, it will be the  sophomores' and seniors' turn. Stepinac High devised a similar plan, and freshmen and  sophomores were at school yesterday.

The previous contract of the Lay Faculty Association expired on  Aug. 31. The union members began to strike on the morning of Sept. 11, but the action  was cut short by the attack on the World Trade Center. Representatives of both sides have  met eight times since September, but the negotiations broke down on  Tuesday.