This morning (Wednesday), contacts between the teachers’ union and government ministries are also expected to continue. On Tuesday, about 15,000 teachers demonstrated in the Tel Aviv Museum plaza in protest of their salaries and the stuck negotiations with the Ministry of Finance. As part of the protest, classes that day ended at 1:00 PM with the aim of “allowing the educators to come to the demonstration.”
The teachers’ union’s announcement of the partial strike read: “Teachers, kindergarten teachers and principals say enough about a meager salary. This is a protest demonstration to save the education system from collapsing.” Following the incident, there were many reactions in the political system as well. The Knesset’s Education Committee held a discussion yesterday on the teacher salary model, but the teachers’ organizations did not attend the discussion. In response, Education Committee Chairman MK Sharan Hashakel said: “It is very sad that the teachers’ organizations that are entrusted with safeguarding the interests of teachers are boycotting the Education Committee.”
During the discussion, a study was presented by the Knesset’s Research and Information Center, which shows that there is a gap of about 37.6% between the actual salaries of teaching staff in the first two years of entering the system and the average salary per teaching position due to their part-time employment. According to the CBS, in the 2007 school year, teaching staff with up to ten years of experience earned an average of NIS 7,772 per month, compared with a monthly salary of NIS 16,177 for employees with more than 21 years of experience and an average of NIS 18,000. For those with more than 31 years of experience.
In addition, the gap between the salaries of young teaching staff (aged 25-34) and the salaries of adults (aged 55-64) grew to 114% in 1954. Thus, in fact, these are gaps that are not just a result of teachers’ employment partiality Beginners, but those that also result from structural gaps in the employment and reward model.
Sonia Peretz, Deputy Director General for Personnel at the Ministry of Education, commented on the situation and said: “We intend to create incentives and promotion horizons for both principals and teaching staff. Ongoing professional supervision within the system, and of course an emphasis on the issue of starting salaries. “