{"id":11273,"date":"2025-05-31T20:40:14","date_gmt":"2025-05-31T20:40:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.kohelet.org.il\/?post_type=article&p=11273"},"modified":"2025-05-31T20:40:20","modified_gmt":"2025-05-31T20:40:20","slug":"the-teachers-union-isnt-fighting-for-teachers","status":"publish","type":"article","link":"https:\/\/www.kohelet.org.il\/en\/article\/the-teachers-union-isnt-fighting-for-teachers\/","title":{"rendered":"The Teachers’ Union Isn’t Fighting for Teachers"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Yesterday\u2019s Strike Was Painful \u2014 and Mostly Unnecessary<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If only the Israel Teachers’ Union had taken off its boxing gloves and used its head \u2014 the strike could have been avoided.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Police officers, nurses, doctors, social workers, career military personnel, prison staff, and municipal workers \u2014 all faced the same budget cuts and managed to cope with them wisely. Arnon Bar-David, Chairman of the Histadrut<\/em> (General Federation of Labor in Israel), was pragmatic – understanding that war necessitates across-the-board cuts and believing it was not right to paralyze the economy. In contrast, secretary-general of the Teachers’ Union Yaffa Ben-David, chose to head straight into the rocks and drag the entire education system with her.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ben-David is trying to promote the narrative that the Ministry of Finance is targeting teachers. In reality, salary reductions could have been minimized, and the crisis weathered with far less harm had she acted responsibly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A Nation at War<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Israel is at war \u2014 a painful and costly war.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Entire sectors understand that now is a time to tighten the belt. It\u2019s unpleasant, but there is little other choice. The Ministry of Finance offered the Teachers’ Union alternatives to direct salary cuts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For instance, they proposed canceling this year\u2019s welfare budget – which funds performances and cultural events sponsored by the Teachers’ Union – a budget of close to 150 million shekels per year, transferred directly from the Treasury to the union\u2019s coffers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sadly, the union refused. Undoubtedly, teachers would have gladly given up a subsidized concert or trip to Eilat in exchange for maintaining their salaries.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Believe it or not, they would have also given up the teachers\u2019 magazine. Even the teacher\u2019s planner could have been surrendered. If cuts are needed, you trim the fat, not the meat. The problem is the union’s lack of flexibility about what to cut. The union also rejected other proposals \u2014 essentially kicking the teachers into their own goal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There Was Another Way<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

An across-the-board salary cut in the Ministry of Education is a nonsensical move, equally affecting both essential and non-essential components of the education budget .<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Imagine if teachers\u2019 salaries didn\u2019t come through the state. Schools would instead receive per-student funding and pay the teachers themselves, managing their budgets independently \u2014 a model already adopted in many countries. In such a scenario, each educational institution or municipality could choose the least harmful way to slash spending.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Maybe switch to a 5-day school week. Maybe pay homeroom teachers significantly more than others. Maybe cancel some activities, or reduce teaching staff. Budgetary flexibility could be the key to saving the system \u2014 especially during cutbacks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Secondary School Teachers’ Association is notably not<\/strong> on strike. A letter published by its chairman clarifies their position \u2014 and even more interestingly, explains what the Teachers’ Union is really after:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe Teachers’ Union isn\u2019t fighting the salary deductions \u2014 the union also understands it can\u2019t strike against the law \u2014 it\u2019s striking to gain the compensation of four extra vacation days.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The reason for Ben-David\u2019s strike, then, is a push for more vacation time. Again, it seems teachers and their union are not playing the same field: while teachers want minimal pay cuts during wartime, the union is gunning for days off.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Another Own Goal: Blocking Individual Contracts<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Another own-goal Ben-David scored is the issue of personal employment contracts. The union adamantly refuses to allow in-system teachers to work under personal contracts, and threatened a strike only a few months ago. It also blocks schools from hiring new teachers under individual agreements.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Thus, the Teachers’ Union simultaneously complains about staffing shortage and actively prevents capable new educators from entering the system, some of whom could earn up to 15,000 shekels a month.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The union\u2019s legendary slogan is \u201cTogether for You\u201d<\/strong>. It sounds rather hollow today.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Yesterday\u2019s Strike Was Painful \u2014 and Mostly Unnecessary. If only the Israel Teachers’ Union had taken off its boxing gloves and used its head \u2014 the strike could have been avoided. Police officers, nurses, doctors, social workers, career military personnel, prison staff, and municipal workers \u2014 all faced the same budget cuts and managed to […]","protected":false},"featured_media":11274,"template":"","article-category":[],"custom-tags":[36,1048,1055,624],"ppma_author":[49],"class_list":["post-11273","article","type-article","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","custom-tags-economy","custom-tags-israeli-education-system","custom-tags-teachers-union","custom-tags-unions"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nThe Teachers' Union Isn't Fighting for Teachers - kohelet<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.kohelet.org.il\/en\/article\/the-teachers-union-isnt-fighting-for-teachers\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The Teachers' Union Isn't Fighting for Teachers - kohelet\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Yesterday\u2019s Strike Was Painful \u2014 and Mostly Unnecessary. 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