High school teachers held a cautionary one-day strike this Sunday as part of an ongoing struggle between the Secondary School Teachers’ Union and the Ministry of Finance regarding negotiations over a new salary agreement.
When did negotiations with the teachers’ union over the new salary agreement begin?
The previous high school teachers' salary agreement, which was part of a larger series of reforms agreed to in 2011 around the structure of high school teachers’ work weeks, ended in December 2021. New negotiations began in February 2022 but according to the Secondary School Teachers’ Union, there has been no significant progress since then. Last spring the union declared a labor dispute and imposed sanctions, which included not attending training courses around the reform of humanities classes.
These sanctions were aimed primarily at demanding agreements on the humanities education reform led by then-Minister of Education Yifat Shasha-Biton. The union reached an agreement with the Ministry of Education ahead of the start of the school year in September, but despite the union’s demand, the agreement was not anchored in a binding collective agreement with the Commissioner of Wages at the Ministry of Finance.
Last October, the organization again began sanctions demanding to advance negotiations on the wage agreement, and for several weeks suspended school trips and outdoor activities. At the end of November, the union, the Ministry of Education and the Commissioner of Wages at the Ministry of Finance agreed to stop the sanctions until March, and to resume negotiations. These agreements were reached in the framework of a labor court proceeding and were validated by a court ruling.
Three weeks ago, the union’s chair, Ran Erez, announced that in practice the ministries were still not negotiating with the union, and he therefore threatened to resume sanctions. Following a request by Education Minister Yoav Kisch to study the issue, the union announced that it would postpone the sanctions by two weeks.
Why strike now?
Representatives of the teachers’ union claim that despite their agreement to delay the sanctions by two weeks, no meaningful negotiations took place during that period. Meetings with representatives of the union were attended by junior representatives from the Finance Ministry’s Department of Salary and Employment Agreements without the authority to make significant decisions. After the union agreed two weeks ago to postpone the sanctions, Erez and the rest of the union leadership decided to hold the strike regardless in order to postpone the negotiations. The choice to strike goes against the decision of the Labor Court, but the union contends that the Ministry of Finance also violated the agreements with them and in practice did not hold negotiations as promised.
What do the Ministry of Education and the Ministry of Finance have to say about the one-day strike?
Ultimately, the Ministries of Finance and Education declined to seek an injunction against the strike from the Labor Court, even though they could have done so. This may be due to a desire to continue trying to resolve the matter through direct dialogue with the teachers’ union, or in an attempt to avoid intervention by the Labor Court, which may also lead to criticism of their conduct in the negotiations.
Regardless, the Ministry of Finance strongly criticized the union, saying that the ministry “regrets the puzzling and bad faith conduct of the teachers’ union. We note that the meeting scheduled for yesterday was canceled by the teachers’ union due to our request to postpone the meeting by an hour. The Ministry of Finance calls on the teachers’ union to prevent unnecessary harm to students, and to return to the negotiating table.”
In response to the Finance Ministry’s statement, Erez issued a statement on behalf of the union: “A half-truth is worse than a lie. Once again, Moshe Bachar, Deputy Commissioner of Wages, sent junior officials with no authority to make decisions to the negotiations, thereby continuing the evasion of conducting real negotiations, as they have evaded for the past year. It is the Finance Ministry that is harming the education system.”
The Ministry of Education called on teachers to avoid a strike in order to make the most of the negotiations. The Ministry’s Director General, Asaf Zalal, sent an official letter to Ran Erez and promised that he would intervene in the salary discussions with the Ministry of Finance. The Federation of Local Authorities in Israel, a non-governmental organization representing the local authorities that are the de facto employers of a large portion of high school teachers, called on the Finance Ministry to resume negotiations.
What are the demands of the teachers’ union?
The union presented its demands in a letter published by Erez last Wednesday. The union demands that the starting salary for a new teacher with a master's degree be equivalent to the average salary in the economy, which is currently 12,200 shekels ($3,500) monthly gross, and that the salary of a beginning teacher with a bachelor’s degree be 12% less than the average wage in the economy. The union demands that the salaries of current teaching staff be increased by about 30%, by increasing the seniority component of the salary and benefits for continuing education.
Some of the salary demands apply to school principals, for whom the union demands an increased summer salary. The increased salary would amount to one extra monthly paycheck to account for the work involved in the conclusion of the school year and preparation of the school for the next school year.
In addition to the salary-related demands, the union is calling for reforms to the handling of sick days, seniority benefits for teachers who moved from another profession and reduced bureaucratic demands on teachers.
The union reached an agreement with the Ministry of Education at the start of the current school year regarding the reform of matriculation exams in the humanities and a reduction of the workweek to five days, but the union demands that these agreements be anchored in a formal collective agreement with the Commissioner of Wages at the Ministry of Finance.
Why are middle school teachers not involved in the strike?
Since the Ofek Hadash (“New Horizon”) education reform of 2008, there has been a dispute between the Secondary School Teachers’ Union and the Teachers’ Federation (which represents kindergarten and elementary school teachers) over the representation of middle school teachers. Many middle school teachers are members of the Secondary School Teachers’ Union, partly because many middle schools are part of six-year schools in which the high school teachers are represented by the Secondary School Teachers’ Union. However, the Ofek Hadash agreement mandated that middle school teachers be represented by the Teachers’ Federation. The issue was discussed at length in the Labor Court, which ruled last year that the Teachers’ Federation is the representative organization of middle school teachers.
The Ministry of Education and the Teachers’ Federation have made it clear that the strike will not apply to middle schools, even though many middle school teachers are indeed members of the Secondary School Teachers’ Union.
This article was translated from Hebrew by Leah Schwartz.
