Teachers Announce Warning Strike Tuesday Morning

YERUSHALAYIM

On Monday, the Teachers’ Union announced a warning strike targeting kindergartens, elementary schools and middle schools set for Tuesday morning, Ynet reported.

The strike, scheduled to last only until 11 a.m., is over salary and other financial issues. Special education programs will not be affected.

Teachers’ Union Sec. Gen. Yaffa Ben David denounced the government for its intention to carry out a retroactive salary cut targeting teachers who were accidentally overpaid due to a conversion error.

Ben David stated that “the Israeli government should be ashamed of itself that education professionals are not paid their salary in full. Harming the salaries of education professionals in the amounts of thousands of shekels due to a supposed error is unacceptable.

“The Education Ministry’s accountants’ claim of encountering a computing glitch is unacceptable. An education professional has just as much right to receive their full salary and guarantee their dignified existence as any citizen who sends their children every day to school,” added Ben David.

Also at issue is the demand that teachers should be reimbursed for transportation expenditures paid out of their own pockets. The state is planning to cut such reimbursements.

In response, the Finance and Education Ministries issued a joint statement accusing Ben David of using the strike to advance her own career.

“This is an aggressive, arbitrary and rash decision,” they said. “It is unfortunate to see students, parents, teachers and the system pay the price for her bid to (continue as) head of the Teachers’ Union this May… This is no way to build a work relationship based on trust and cooperation.”

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