No breakthrough as high school teachers still threaten strike, day before school year

Education Minister Kisch says he’s sitting down with Secondary School Teachers Association head Ran Erez for ‘decisive’ meeting to address gaps in collective salary negotiations

Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, right, and Education Minister Yoav Kisch at a press conference at the Prime Minister's Office in Jerusalem, April 30, 2023. (Alex Kolomoisky/POOL)
Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, right, and Education Minister Yoav Kisch at a press conference at the Prime Minister's Office in Jerusalem, April 30, 2023. (Alex Kolomoisky/POOL)

A day before the start of the school year, high school teachers were still threatening Thursday not to show up for work as negotiations between the Finance Ministry and the Secondary School Teachers Association had yet to yield an agreement on salary raises.

Education Minister Yoav Kisch said that overnight talks — the latest in a series of intensive negotiation sessions this week — had ended with no breakthrough regarding a new collective salary agreement instead of one that expired in February 2022.

Kisch said that he would be sitting down with the head of the Secondary School Teachers Association, Ran Erez, on Thursday morning for a meeting he described as “decisive.”

Teachers in Israel have long complained of low salaries, especially for new teachers, and of difficult conditions such as insufficient vacation days, overcrowded classrooms amid a shortage of education workers, no pay for extensive preparatory and other work done from home, and no financial benefits and pay raises based on the quality of their teaching.

There are significant gaps between the sides, mainly regarding the size of the across-the-board raise for high school teachers. While the association is demanding that the monthly salary of each teacher be boosted by NIS 2,000 ($530) — down from its initial demand of NIS 3,000 ($790) — the treasury is only willing to raise it by NIS 1,100 ($290).

In recent days, according to the Haaretz daily, the government has proposed a lower raise than the association demands, alongside a reduction of their weekly work hours. The offer also would add an extra hour per week of classroom teaching — somewhat alleviating the shortage of manpower — at the expense of an hour currently dedicated to small-group teaching for students who need the extra help.

Secondary School Teachers Association chief Ran Erez speaks at an education conference by The Marker business newspaper in Kiryat Ono, August 24, 2022. (Avshalom Sassoni/Flash90)

Another gap between the sides, according to the report, is that the Finance Ministry is seeking a collective agreement that will be valid for six years — starting from the previous deal’s expiration date 18 months ago — which would guarantee an extended period free of strike threats.

The teachers association is only willing to sign a 3.5-year deal — which would mean negotiations would resume in a couple of years — citing the country’s “unstable” economy.

Association head Erez told Channel 13 news last weekend that “one hundred percent there will be a strike on September 1. We are determined not to start the school year and are preparing for a long strike.”

Erez said Israel’s education system was “destroyed and deteriorating.”

He said 20 percent of teaching staff positions are not filled, while “many others are teaching subjects they are not approved to teach, [and] students are being crammed into classrooms to overcome the lack of teachers.”

“The education system should concern every citizen and parent. We are the solution, not the problem,” Erez said.

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