The Israeli Teachers’ Union has announced that once again, no classes will be held across the country with only one week left to go before the end of this school year.
The return to the strike comes after a deadlock in negotiations between the union and the Finance Ministry.
“They are shaming the teaching profession and will cause the education system to collapse,” warned union chief Yaffa Ben-David.
In a statement issued in response, Finance Minister Avigdor Liberman said the strike is “unnecessary” and “harms students and parents, and does not serve the teaching public either.”
Although special education programs will operate Tuesday as usual, mainstream kindergarten and elementary school classes will not.
The dispute centers on the issue of how much a beginning teacher should be paid. The Finance Ministry is offering NIS 8,600 / month for a starting educator; the union is demanding a minimum of NIS 10,500.
“We have been negotiating with the Finance Ministry officials for six months now and the only proposal they presented is simply a mockery,” said Ben-David said.
“The officials there do not care about anything. Neither education, nor the students nor the parents. We have repeatedly warned that despite our many attempts and gestures of goodwill such as the lifting of sanctions, the Treasury insists on not resolving the crisis and is leading Israel into chaos for the next school year.”
