Teachers to strike Sunday amid struggle for higher wages, better conditions

School teachers from institutions across central Israel went on strike for better wages on Thursday, as part of an ongoing struggle by the Israel Teachers Union for higher wages and better working conditions.

Strikes are scheduled to take place again in Jerusalem on Sunday, with schools in the capital slated to open late, at 10 a.m., the union announced Thursday night.

Government and union officials were negotiating a new salary agreement as part of the upcoming state budget. The union has threatened to continue holding strikes until their demands are met.

At the heart of the tug-of-war lies planned Finance Ministry reforms to reduce the power of the teachers union, including allowing principals to fire staff without union intervention and shrink the pay gap between veterans and new teachers by setting wages according to competence, as opposed to length of experience.

The union is demanding that new teachers earn a monthly salary of NIS 10,000 ($2,981) as well as a meaningful increase in experienced teachers’ salaries, according to the Ynet news site, which said that some longtime teachers are only earning NIS 7,500 ($2,235) a month.

Official talks began two months ago, but the union and Finance Ministry have held non-official talks for a year, according to Ynet.

In an interview after the Thursday strike, Israel Teachers Union head Yaffa Ben David lamented that the last salary agreement with the Finance ministry was made in 2019.

“I will take all legal steps at our disposal to rescue the education system that is collapsing, including a general strike,” she threatened and expressed her desire to move Finance Ministry officials from their current position.

“They live on another planet,” she quipped.

Ben David claimed she enjoyed wide support from parents in the union’s struggle and urged them to raise their voices.

“It is for your children. You’re worried about the opening of the school year? Worry about who your child will be with in the classroom or in daycare. We want quality, and for quality, you need to pay,” she told Ynet.

Ben David accused the ministry of foot-dragging over the dispute, claiming officials want to pay starting teachers NIS 8,200 ($2,444) a month. “We ruled it out. Who will come for NIS 8,200?”

Ben David rejected an idea from Finance Minister Avigdor Liberman to adjust teachers’ vacations to parents’ vacations, saying, “you can’t just throw reforms in the air,” and added that they were not spoken to directly on the matter, and accused the ministry of conducting negotiations in through the media.

The frail coalition to which Liberman belongs may yet undermine his reforms. Education Minister Yifat Shasha-Biton has threatened to vote against the budget unless the teachers’ demands are substantively met.

Education Minister Yifat Shasha-Biton threw her support behind the teachers’ cause in an online post on Wednesday, stating that the struggle for an increased salary is a “just and important cause.”

“Their cause is for everyone. It’s about the future of the state. It’s in the hands of finance officials to prevent disturbances by paving the road and accelerating negotiations immediately,” the minister wrote.

Ben David has made the rounds in the Hebrew media insisting that Israeli teachers are paid two-thirds less than the average for OECD countries, a commonly cited index of wealthy economies.

But an analysis by the Kan public broadcaster found that the gap is much smaller once a more nuanced breakdown — accounting for bonuses and added pay for experience — is made. Israeli teachers were actually paid as much or more than the average teacher in OECD countries, the network concluded.

To further complicate matters, schools around the country are facing a significant teacher shortage.

At least 20,000 teachers and their supporters demonstrated in Tel Aviv at the end of May for higher pay and better working conditions as part of the actions led by the Israel Teachers Union.