Elementary schools, ulpans and kindergartens will be closed on Tuesday as the Teachers’ Union resumes striking, the union announced on Monday afternoon.
Special education schools will operate as usual.
The decision to return to the strike was made after Finance Ministry officials told the union that they could not offer a starting salary for teachers higher than NIS 8,600, and only a few hundred shekels for veteran teaching staff. The union is demanding a starting salary of NIS 10,500.
A meeting on Monday among the union, the Education and Finance ministries ended without results, with the Finance Ministry offering only a small raise, according to the union. The union rejected the offer.
“We have been negotiating with the Finance officials for half a year, and the only proposal they put in is just a mockery,” said Yaffa Ben David, head of the union. “The officials there do not care about anything: not about education, not about the students, and not about the parents. We repeat our warning that despite our many attempts and gestures of goodwill such as the lifting of sanctions, the Finance Ministry insists on not resolving the crisis and is leading Israel into chaos next school year as well.”
"We repeat our warning that despite our many attempts and gestures of goodwill such as the lifting of sanctions, the Finance Ministry insists on not resolving the crisis and is leading Israel into chaos next school year as well."
Yaffa Ben David, Teachers Union head
The strike was paused last week after a request was made by Education Minister Yifat Shasha-Biton amid negotiations with the Finance Ministry.