Prime Minister, Yair Lapid: Who needs a strike just before elections
You don't need to be a great expert to understand that shutting down the preschool and elementary education system two months before an election, when parents will be forced to sit at home and lose days of work, is a bad option for Prime Minister Yair Lapid. He hopes to be re-elected to the position and the issue bothers him.
In fact, during the visit of the President of the United States, Joe Biden, his office issued a statement that he had discussed the matter with the Minister of Finance and the Minister of Education.
A strike on September 1 that will take over the agenda, will be used as a weapon by the opposition and will include criticism of the inability to manage the most basic thing in the country - the school routine.
I don't want a strike.
Prime Minister Yair Lapid, photo: Mark Israel Salem
No one wants "on his watch" millions of angry parents and a sector that has more than 160,000 employees who are not satisfied.
The Minister of Education, Yifat Shasha-Biton: wants achievements and fights for her future
Last September, Education Minister Yifat Shasha-Biton fulfilled her big dream and opened the school year.
The Bible teacher from Kiryat Shmona has reached the position of her life. But next month it may be the start of her last year as minister. And yet, in order to be re-elected to the Knesset, she also wants to present achievements and victories - certainly when the party she is running for is fighting for its future and at the other end the potential voters are waiting .
It should be said: Shasha-Biton really believes that teachers deserve a more appropriate salary.
Throughout the period, she uncompromisingly supported the teachers' union's struggle to the extent that she went against the people of the Ministry of Finance and on the other hand became the punching bag of the teachers' organization led by Ran Erez, who claimed that she was destroying the system.
want achievements
MK Yifat Shasha-Biton, photo: Herzi Shapira
Minister Lieberman and the finance officials: reduce the addition to the education budget
Finance Minister Avigdor Lieberman was the one who tightened the conditions in exchange for raising the salary of the teaching staff.
He demands, among other things, a change in vacation days, pay based on excellence (and not just based on seniority) and the ability to fire bad teachers.
Next to him are the so-called "treasury officials", including the salary commissioner Kobi Bar-Nathan, who see themselves as the ones who guard the funds of the public treasury.
Together they are trying to reduce the Ministry of Education's budget, which already stands at 70 billion shekels per year (90% of the budget is for the salaries of education workers such as kindergarteners, teachers, assistants, etc.).
For years, the Treasury liked to drag out the negotiations until the last moment.
In fact, almost everyone who waged a struggle against them (the nurses, the bus drivers, the social workers, etc.) feels that the treasury only understands "force", only a strike.
reduce in additions.
Finance Minister Avigdor Lieberman, photo: Oren Ben Hakon
While the finance officials have been sitting in their positions for years due to tenure, Finance Minister Avigdor Lieberman is just before an election campaign, where he will surely hear criticism from his opponents for his conduct as finance minister in general, and certainly for his failure to prevent the strike in the education system - if there is one.
Yaffe Ben David, Teachers' Union: not moved by public opinion
This time the first woman of the Teachers' Union is not going to give up her fight for teachers' and kindergarteners' wages.
She has already proven her ability to shut down the education system in an instant.
She identifies an opportunity that is unlikely to be repeated: after all, not every year a salary agreement is signed.
Parents see what is happening in the education system: the lack of teaching staff and assistants, and the difficulty of dealing with busy classes.
That is why they also give support to the struggle, even if some of them disapprove of Ben David's conduct.
Her election campaign for a third term in office is still far away.
Secretary General of the Teachers' Union Yaffe Ben David, photo: Yossi Zeliger
If you succeed, Ben David will make a dramatic change in teacher salaries.
This time without any reform that would require her to increase the teaching hours or change the holiday schedule.
In the public that she represents, she receives tremendous support.
Ben David is the hope for the young teaching staff or those in special education who "do holy work", but barely make it through the month.
Unlike politicians, Ben David is not really moved by public opinion.
She was re-elected in June last year and her election campaign for a third term in office is still far away.
If no agreements are reached and she declares a strike - it seems that only the National Labor Court will be able to stop her.
Chairman of the parents' leadership, Mirom Schiff: Support the teachers - but against a strike
The parents arrive in September tired and impoverished.
The fear is that, as with Corona, they will be forced to sit with their children at home.
Many support the teachers' demands and understand that higher wages will attract better quality teachers.
However, the support for teachers is separate - and the attitude towards Yaffe Ben David is separate.
The threats to shut down the studies lead to criticism of her forceful style.
With the suspension of school at the end of the school year, the parents claimed that the students were being used as a punching bag.
If the crisis is not resolved, they will push the ministries of finance and education to issue injunctions against the teachers union and stop the strike.
"The manner of the negotiation - will definitely lead to a strike."
Mirom Schiff, photo: Olivier Fitosi, Flash 90
The chairman of the parents' leadership, Mirom Schiff: "The way the negotiations are going now will definitely lead to a strike.
I call on all parties to conduct secret negotiations. The distance between the parties is not great and the best interest of our children is what should be on the agenda, before anything else."
The chairman of the teachers' organization, Ran Erez: The next threat - from the high schools
What the Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Education are currently going through with Yaffe Ben David, they may also go through with Ran Erez, who represents the high school teachers - who is also threatening to disable the studies if his demands are not met.
Erez sees Ben David and he also wants to improve conditions - a new collective labor agreement with salary increases for teachers and administrators and improvement of their working conditions.
Along with this, he is protesting the new reform in the matriculation, the salaries of the principals and the transition to five days of study in elementary school.
Ran Erez, chairman of the secondary teachers' organization, photo: Gideon Markovich
The teachers' organization is on a collision course with Education Minister Yifat Shasha-Biton, and even wrote to her recently: "The way you are going, you are dismantling the education system and disintegrating it."
In fact, Ran Erez is responsible for the largest strike held in the education system in Israel, in October 2007: after his demands were not met, he suspended studies in high schools for two months (64 days).
were we wrong
We will fix it!
If you found an error in the article, we would appreciate it if you shared it with us
