Labor Court rules teachers must stop taking sick days to protest salary cuts
Court says teachers can’t legally strike outside union framework, must return to work; union official says talks on salary agreement ongoing, chair working to improve conditions
The Tel Aviv Labor Court on Wednesday ordered teachers who have been protesting salary cuts by taking sick days en masse to cease their disruptions and return to work.
In its ruling, the court said individual or non-union groups of teachers cannot legally strike and must stop taking “non-authentic” sick days. The ruling did not comment on a Finance Ministry order to withhold pay from teachers who took sick days.
While thousands of teachers listed themselves as sick on Wednesday, the protests have eased compared to earlier this week, with 71 schools closed in Tel Aviv compared to 117 on Monday, and 72 schools closed in the central district compared to 155 on Monday, according to the Ynet news site.
While 26 schools in Haifa were closed on Monday, only eight were closed on Wednesday. In Jerusalem, only one school was closed, compared to 13 earlier in the week, the report said.
The strike began with a delayed opening of elementary schools on Sunday, following a Finance Ministry decision to cut public sector salaries by 3.3 percent amid the war in Gaza. Some teachers did not report to work until 10 a.m., and others did not show up at all, with many schools opting to remain closed for the entire day. Some 25,000 teachers reportedly joined Sunday’s action.
That same day, the ministry reached an agreement with the Israel Teachers Union, which represents middle school, elementary and kindergarten teachers, that pay would be cut by 0.95% instead of the original 3.3%, and that the cut would only be in effect from May to the end of December 2025.
The starting salary for new teachers in Israel is just $2,490 a month. Experienced teachers can earn almost double that, but only after 30 years in the profession. Citing their already low salaries, teachers say that they want the pay cut canceled entirely.
Many teachers were unhappy with union leader Yaffa Ben David’s concessions in the negotiations and continued an unofficial strike by calling in sick Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday.
An organized group of those teachers threatened that if Ben David did not meet with them by 6 p.m. Tuesday, they would escalate their protest.
An official in the Teachers Union told Kan news Wednesday that the negotiations are not over yet, and Ben David “continues to improve” the agreement.
Channel 12 reported last week that the salary cut does not apply to teachers in ultra-Orthodox schools.
Secondary Schools Teachers Association Chairman Ran Erez said the organization would join the struggle against the cuts and hold a large demonstration in Tel Aviv next Wednesday, and called on all teachers to attend to protest pay cuts.
That smaller organization, which represents high school teachers, has petitioned the High Court of Justice against the salary cuts and has yet to go on strike.
In an interview with 103FM radio, Erez said it was clear that the non-union strike by teachers would be forbidden by the Labor Court, but vowed, “We will help them.”
“To strike against the law – this is an illegal strike, a political strike. Therefore, I chose the legal path. The state was obligated to respond to this by June 6, and I will do everything to succeed. I hope that the steps we are taking will repeal this decree. It is not fair. Today in the State of Israel, everything depends on education. Teachers are voting with their feet and leaving the system.”
The Times of Israel Community.