NEW YORK (AP) – A union representing New York-area Catholic school teachers says it will begin striking Tuesday, three days before Pope Benedict XVI’s visit to the city.

The Lay Faculty Association represents 450 teachers at 10 schools in Manhattan, Staten Island, the Bronx and several counties north of the city. It has rejected any deal with the Archdiocese of New York’s Association of Catholic Schools.

The union says the teachers will picket outside the schools.

The teachers’ contract expired in August 2007. The parties have argued over wages, health care and pensions.

On Friday a spokesman for the archdiocese announced that another union of lay teachers had agreed to a four-year contract.

The pope visits New York from April 18 to 20.

AP-ES-04-13-08 1709EDT