School strike over
The secondary high school teacher's strike is over after 65 days, the longest school strike in Israeli history. The results were predictable, and could have been achieved a month ago if the Govt. had been forceful in its involvement. But, actually the Olmert Govt. gets a failing grade for not having been actively involved in resolving this strike. Last week the Supreme Court ruled that the teachers must return to work today, the day after the Chanukah holiday, and that's how it worked out.
After all night negotiations, according to the terms of the agreement, the teachers get a 14% wage increase immediately, with an additional 3% increase over time and an additional increase to be agreed later that could go up to 20%. They also get back hours that had been cut previously, and agree in turn to work extra days over the next year to make up some of the time lost. The Education Ministry agrees to gradually reduce the average class size from 36 to 30 pupils. These terms were proposed by the head of the Histadrut Union last October.
Education in Israel has been going downhill for years, due partly to low teacher wages and poor organization. Hopefully this trend will be reversed, but only partially. At the same time the University teacher's strike is continuing, and there is talk now of cancelling the whole University semester. It is considered that this would be a major setback for the Israeli economy, with no graduating students entering the work force at the end of the year.
Unfortunately, unlike most countries, the Israeli Govt. always has the good excuse that there are more important issues to be dealt with, like security, foreign policy, negotiations with the Palestinains and dealing with Iranian nuclear ambitions. That gets them off the hook for having been incompetent and detached from this significant problem.
However, one must admit that the public has not been highly engaged either. While the teachers have had demonstrations, there has not been wide public support for involvement in these. Also, the high school pupils have caused little problem, while it was expected that there would be a rise in crime and random acts of violence, this has not happened. In fact, the students have been very responsible and have been doing school work on their own, making the effect of the strike less damaging.
After all night negotiations, according to the terms of the agreement, the teachers get a 14% wage increase immediately, with an additional 3% increase over time and an additional increase to be agreed later that could go up to 20%. They also get back hours that had been cut previously, and agree in turn to work extra days over the next year to make up some of the time lost. The Education Ministry agrees to gradually reduce the average class size from 36 to 30 pupils. These terms were proposed by the head of the Histadrut Union last October.
Education in Israel has been going downhill for years, due partly to low teacher wages and poor organization. Hopefully this trend will be reversed, but only partially. At the same time the University teacher's strike is continuing, and there is talk now of cancelling the whole University semester. It is considered that this would be a major setback for the Israeli economy, with no graduating students entering the work force at the end of the year.
Unfortunately, unlike most countries, the Israeli Govt. always has the good excuse that there are more important issues to be dealt with, like security, foreign policy, negotiations with the Palestinains and dealing with Iranian nuclear ambitions. That gets them off the hook for having been incompetent and detached from this significant problem.
However, one must admit that the public has not been highly engaged either. While the teachers have had demonstrations, there has not been wide public support for involvement in these. Also, the high school pupils have caused little problem, while it was expected that there would be a rise in crime and random acts of violence, this has not happened. In fact, the students have been very responsible and have been doing school work on their own, making the effect of the strike less damaging.
posted by Jack Cohen at 6:49 PM
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