The last thing that interests Yaffa Ben-David, secretary general of the Teachers' Union, is the shortage of teachers in the system.
If the solution to the shortage were of interest to her, Ben-David would demand an increase in the salaries of beginning teachers, since a higher starting salary may attract talented students to the field of education.
Although Ben-David did a good campaign to raise the salaries of beginning teachers, in the negotiating rooms she demands an increase in the salaries of veteran teachers, as has happened over the years.
The Ministry of Finance is willing to significantly increase the salaries of beginning teachers and reduce the weight of seniority in determining the level of salaries, but it is precisely on this point that Yaffa Ben-David is blowing up the negotiations.
How unfortunate that Education Minister Shasha Bitton, who is supposed to represent the broad public interest, chooses to align with the Mafiosi demands
Of teachers' organizations.
Many believe that there is no contradiction between the things.
The mistaken assumption is that there is enough money in the public coffers to significantly raise the salaries of all teachers.
But this is a mistake that preserves the current distortions.
In every agreement that is signed, many billions will be added to the teachers 'salary budget, but the budget is limited - so any share given to the veteran teachers will come at the expense of the young teachers' salaries, and will adversely affect those who are undecided whether to go to teaching.
Beautiful cousin.
Beautiful campaign, Photo: Eric Sultan
It should be said clearly: the salaries of veteran teachers are also high in international comparisons, while the salaries of young teachers are disgraceful.
Preserving the wage gap is an unwise and immoral act.
The most educational act young teachers can do now is to organize independently, similar to interns.
The teachers' union does not represent them or the needs of the system, but the "first generation" of the system, which enjoys a salary of up to three times that of young teachers.
It is unrealistic to expect young and talented students to enter the system, in the hope that their salaries will be decent after 25 years.
Young people expect to be rewarded for their investment and success already in the first years of work, and they are right.
They also want their pay to reflect not only their survival time in the system, but also their satisfaction with them at school.
Their large investment, which is beyond the required minimum, and the fact that they chose education, over more rewarding professions that were open to them.
The teaching public today is more or less divided into two populations.
The first - idealists whose education flows through their veins: there are many, but they are not enough to meet the needs of the system.
Unfortunately, the system also manages to get the wind out of their sails quickly, due to bureaucracy and centralization.
A well-known rule is that talented people come to a place where they are trusted and given autonomy.
The second population includes teachers who have no alternative out there and who enjoy the constant rise in wages, regardless of their abilities and investment.
This is the public that the Teachers' Union protects, at the expense of the well-being of our children.
The good teachers are worth more than what they get on the pay slip, and principals will be happy to reward them properly, because they desperately need them.
But the interest of the teachers' union is a "sodomy bed" - everyone gets the same rate of salary increase, depending on their seniority in the system.
Surrender to Yaffa Ben-David will be an indelible stain on the legacy of Minister Shasha Bitton at the Ministry of Education.
Lydia had a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to correct distortions in the employment of teaching staff — distortions for which teachers' organizations are responsible.
If the minister decides to fight, the majority of the public will stand behind her and will also be willing to pay a price for rescuing the education system from the captivity of the teachers' organizations.
We have already seen that the Minister knows how to fight for what is important to her, now she just has to want it.
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