Labor court orders teachers to release test grades held hostage in wage fight
Education Ministry agrees not to use results until a subsequent agreement is reached over salary dispute; union slams proposal to raise salaries to NIS 10,000 a month
The National Labor Court on Monday ordered high school teachers to release key test scores which had been withheld as part of a protest for higher wages.
Students have been waiting months for the results of preliminary exams to help prepare for matriculation exams, which start in the coming weeks. But teachers have refused to publish them, as they seek to pressure the Education Ministry for better wages for educators.
The court issued its decision at the conclusion of a four-hour hearing that was convened at the request of the Education Ministry and the Federation of Local Authorities, who urged the panel to compel the Israel Teachers Union to release the scores.
The Education Ministry agreed not to use the scores until it reaches an agreement with the teachers’ union regarding wages, or until the court issues another decision on the matter.
The decision was hailed by Education Minister Yoav Kisch who claimed that it will allow students to receive their test scores and make way for talks between the Finance Ministry and the teachers’ union to reach a compromise.
But Teachers Union chair Ran Erez said the verdict marked a sad day for his organization, “and also for parents and students.”
The union argued that withholding the grades is a legitimate action and not significantly damaging to students.
“The steps taken by the organization are minor, responsible, and effective, and therefore should not be blocked,” a union official said during Monday’s National Labor Court hearing.
The union and government have been locked in an ongoing pay dispute that saw the teachers hold sporadic one-day strikes in various locations around the country in February.
Earlier Monday, the Teachers Union rejected an offer by the Finance Ministry to raise starting salaries for high school instructors to NIS 10,000 ($2,737) a month.
The union called the offer humiliating and degrading. It is seeking a starting salary of NIS 12,000 ($3,285) a month.
The Finance Ministry said in a statement that during negotiations last week to end a labor dispute over wages and terms of employment, it had proposed a plan that would eventually start new teachers with a bachelor’s degree at a monthly wage of NIS 10,000 ($2,736), while those with a masters degree would earn NIS 10,900 ($2,983). According to the ministry, the offer is NIS 1,500 ($410) more than it had suggested in the past.
The raises would go into effect gradually, meaning teachers would start off at NIS 9099 ($2,490) and NIS 9952 ($2,724) in September, the Treasury said.
The ministry called it a “detailed and respectable” proposal adding, “We are sorry that the teachers’ organization continues to harm the students.”
It urged the teachers to stop the “significant damage to high school students just before the graduation period and to come to the negotiating table with a genuine desire to reach a proper and good salary agreement for the education system.”
However, the teachers’ union criticized the offer as inadequate.
