Catholic school teachers staged a one-day walkout Friday -- amid stalled contract negotiations.

NEW YORK (WABC) -- New York Catholic school teachers staged a one-day walkout Friday amid stalled contract negotiations.

There is a contract impasse between the Federation of Catholic Teachers and the New York Archdiocese. The union, which represents around 26,000 teachers, has been without a contract since September, prompting teachers from five Catholic schools in the area to stay home Friday.

Teachers said they can't get a 1 percent wage increase from the Archdiocese of New York without the threat of more school closures in the future.

"They are holding teachers and students hostage, so that we can get a cost of living increase, basically," said Matthew Hedge, who teaches AP History. "For an organization that I believe in, that's sort of about helping people, to hold their own members hostage, it hurts.

But the archdiocese has had some struggles of its own to grapple with. For example, there was a $26 million deficit from the Catholic schools last year, which they were able to correct through donations, but officials say it's hardly a time to raise tuition.

"The schools are losing money because we don't have enough students in our schools," archdiocese spokesman Joe Zwilling said. "I mean, that's the bottom line. If we had full schools, then we wouldn't have any economic problems with our schools."

Officials say they were hoping the teachers would accept step increases of about 1.8 percent with an average bonus of about $500 per year, unless a more senior teacher had maxed out.

"Over 50 percent of our teachers are already at the top of their salary scale," said Daniel Linehan, of the Federation of Catholic School Teachers. "So that means they're never going to make any more money for the rest of their tenure as a teacher?"

According to the archdiocese, the schools that had the one-day strike remained open. However, the St. Jean Baptiste had no teachers, so students went to the auditorium and watched "Mamma Mia," then went home at 11 a.m.

Not all the teachers at the five schools picketed, but most agree that their futures are unclear at best.

The next negotiating session is set for Wednesday.