Secondary school teachers’ strike enters 47th day
The National Parents’ Organisation (NPO) held a one-day strike in solidarity with the Secondary School Teachers’ Association (SSTA) yesterday (2 December). The group said it was protesting against “the government’s indifference toward the profound crisis in education,” and called on parents not to send their children to elementary schools for the day. The strike was only partially heeded, however, with the Education Ministry stating that 90 percent of elementary schools remained open.
The strike was called for after talks between the government and the SSTA broke down last week and the Israeli government asked the courts for assistance in ending the on-going secondary school teachers strike. The National Labor Court decided on Monday (3 December), however, not to issue back-to-work orders that would force secondary school teachers to return to work, but instead ordered the government to submit additional data regarding its planned reform of the education system and details of the proposals offered to the striking teachers.
The details released by the government include:
• An extra £13 million for the 2008 education budget to pay for about 20,000 additional teaching hours. This is below the 110,000 hours the SSTA is demanding.
• A proposal to direct the Education and Finance Ministers to submit, within 75 days, a “multiyear plan for reducing class sizes, adding classroom hours and dividing up classrooms.” The budget for this would only be determined after the Knesset approves the 2008 state budget.
• A wage hike of 8.5 percent for teachers in exchange for an additional three hours a week of small-group tutoring.
The proposals are conditional on the secondary school teachers joining, by June 2009, the education reform to which the country’s elementary school teachers agreed earlier this year. Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said yesterday that the cabinet committed to increasing teachers’ salaries significantly and improving education in Israel, but “first of all: teachers must stop their strike.”
The SSTA has said it will appeal to the High Court of Justice if back-to-work orders are ever issued.
It is also unclear whether parents would choose to send their children to school if teachers are working under a court injunction.