Court turns back government’s bid to block impending teachers strike
Petition rejected on technicality; attempt indicates officials pessimistic deal can be reached by Thursday, first day of school year
The National Labor Court on Tuesday evening rejected an attempt by the government to forestall an impending teacher’s strike with a request for back-to-work orders.
The court said its decision was due to a technicality — the state had submitted its petition as a response to another petition submitted by the Manufacturers Association — and that the state could submit a separate request if it chose to do so, leaving the door open to a possible injunction with less than 36 hours remaining until the school year is slated to begin.
The State Prosecutor’s Office had asked for a court injunction in an attempt to block teachers from striking on Thursday, the first day of school, as wage negotiations with the Teachers Union seemingly hit a dead end.
The petition, spearheaded by Finance Minister Avigdor Liberman, underlined the tensions over the issue within the cabinet, as Education Minister Yifat Shasha-Biton distanced herself from the move, saying that “legal threats won’t help solve the education crisis.”
The request cited the “massive damage” an extension of summer vacation for striking teachers would wreak on both parents and kids, and accused the Teachers Union of “breaking every possible framework” for progress.
Despite the reports of positive developments Tuesday morning, sources later indicated that an agreement was still a long way off. The move to block a strike seemingly signaled treasury officials no longer believe the gaps can be bridged in time.
One issue on which the two sides were still at odds was vacation days. The Finance Ministry is seeking to bring the number of vacation days that teachers receive closer to the number received by workers in other sectors of the economy, in an attempt to reduce pressure on working parents. The ministry is therefore demanding educational staff give up six vacation days in exchange for some Fridays off work, according to the Kan public broadcaster.
The Tuesday report said that the union is willing to give up the days immediately following Passover, Shavuot, and Sukkot — known as Isru Chag — as well as Lag B’Omer, in exchange for time off between the holidays of Yom Kippur and Sukkot.
The treasury said that the Teachers Union’s position was “unacceptable,” and that the teachers were demanding a “deal that goes beyond any yardstick set by previous agreements.”
“We’ve reached the limit of what we can offer the teachers,” a treasury source was quoted as saying by Channel 12 news.
The Teachers Union demanded that the petition be thrown out, saying “the timing of the request at a moment where the teams are reporting progress in negotiations raises suspicions of an attempt to damage the agreements or force the Finance Ministry’s positions on the Teachers Union.”
The union, along with the Education Ministry, has also warned that the treasury’s wage proposals would result in a mass exodus of teachers in five to six years.
The government has limited wiggle room in what it can offer the teachers. As a caretaker government, the attorney general has capped what the Finance Ministry can offer teachers at NIS 4 billion ($1.2 billion) in the lead-up to elections.
