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Teachers’ union head says high school strike likely to last until late October

The points of contention include salary raises and bonuses that were delayed because of the onset of Israel’s war with Hamas.

By Vered Weiss, World Israel News

The Chairman of the Secondary Schools Teachers Association, Ran Erez, said the high school teachers’ strike that has delayed the school year in Israel may last until after the Jewish holidays or late October.

During an interview with Ynet, Erez was asked if the strike could extend beyond the Jewish holidays in October, to which he replied, “Correct, as we aren’t close to an agreement.”

The comment was widely shared on social media by students and their concerned parents.

The points of contention include salary raises and bonuses that were delayed because of the onset of Israel’s war with Hamas and the government’s proposal to create individual contracts for teachers to allow for more hiring flexibility.

The Teachers’ Union rejects these individual agreements, which they believe would make teachers “contract workers” without the benefits they usually have.

In addition, the union believes the contracts will incentivize schools to hire unqualified teachers at low salaries and threaten the quality of education.

The union is demanding retroactive wage increases and bonuses promised before October 7th.

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Teachers of 10th—12th grade students are participating in the strike, as well as some who teach 9th grade. In total, 514,000 students are affected by the strike and have not begun classes yet.

Parents and some administration are concerned that the school year’s delay will further exacerbate learning delays created by shutdowns during the pandemic and the suspension of schooling in the first weeks of the current war.

Abigail Samin, principal of Makif Ariel, middle and high school in the Samaria city of Ariel said, “A lot of our high school students are in very difficult situations. The last thing they need is to continue the summer break.”

Given the collective trauma of the war and other upheavals, parents are “turning to the school system for help in a way that they never had before.”

When asked about the extended strike, Erez Ran said, “It’s lucky the weather lets the students go to the beach and they are keeping busy. We don’t want to hurt the students. For us, we see this as the summer vacation continuing for another few days.”

However, Education Minister Yoav Kisch took exception to Ran’s comparison of the teacher’s strike to a day at the beach as “the most disconnected thing ever. This is how a person who can’t look students and teachers in the eye speaks, this is how a person who doesn’t feel the war outside speaks.”