The National Court prevented the teachers' organization from starting sanctions

(live here) – The National Labor Court announced yesterday (Tuesday, 25/02/25) that teachers from the Teachers' Union will not be able to begin sanctions and will have to negotiate with the Ministry of Finance until 19/03 and then report to the court on the results of the negotiations.

This decision by the court came after the teachers' union announced that, starting Monday, February 24, 2, the teachers' union sanctions will return, initially suspending all activity outside of school hours. The national parents' leadership filed a request with the National Labor Court this evening, Sunday, to join the requests submitted by the local government and the ministries of education and finance, for temporary and permanent injunctions against the teachers' union's announcement of sanctions and shutdown. The National Labor Court ruled today that in any case, the sanctions will not begin before March 25, 2, unlike the teachers' union's announcement.

The teachers' union announced before the appeal to the court that, starting next Sunday, March 2, 2025, all activities outside the school walls will also be suspended, including trips, tours and performances. The teachers' union notes that these measures are being taken due to failure to comply with the terms of the collective wage agreement, which they have been fighting for for a long time.

"Repeated violations of the wage agreement"

According to the teachers' union's statement, the Ministry of Education is not fully fulfilling its obligations under the agreement that was signed, which directly harms teachers. Among the organization's main claims: teachers in schools that operate five days a week do not receive five hours of work from home, subject coordinators working in two divisions do not receive a 16% pay increase, there is a violation of the "mother's position" supplement for full-time teachers, and there are delays in paying matriculation benefits to teachers employed by the Ministry of Education.

Will a solution be found?

The teachers' struggle over their employment conditions has been going on for a very long time. At the beginning of the school year, the dispute between the teachers' union and the Ministry of Finance even led to a prolonged strike. Ultimately, the parties reached a new wage agreement, but now the organization claims that it is being violated, and therefore the sanctions have been renewed.
The question that now arises is whether these steps will lead to change or whether the education system will once again suffer from a prolonged crisis.

"While the entire country is in mourning"

Many parents were outraged, not only by the sanctions being lifted, but also by the timing of their announcement. The National Parents' Leadership came out against the decision to publish the announcement last Thursday, the day the bodies of several Hamas prisoners were brought to Israel, including the children Ariel and Kfir Bibas. "While the entire country is mourning and in pain, Ran Erez and the teachers' organization are choosing today to announce additional sanctions that will harm Israel's children," the National Parents' Leadership said.

"It is impossible for the children to pay the price"

The chairwoman of the Haifa Parents' Committee, Lior Goldberg, also expressed strong protest over the renewed sanctions. "In such an emotionally turbulent time, we are once again returning to wars on the backs of the children, whose only desire is to finish one year in peace," said Goldberg. "When will this end? As the Parents' Committee, we will do everything for the benefit of the city's children, and not only that - the local government center even appealed to the National Labor Court with a petition against the teachers' sanctions, and the national parents' leadership supports this."

"The choice to return and harm students, especially in a year of war, is unbearable and we cannot accept it."

"Haifa students are experiencing two very challenging years, which included the teachers' union sanctions last year and this year until the salary agreement was signed," says Haifa Student Council Chairwoman Yuval Dagani, "in addition to the instability due to the war, emotional difficulty and distance learning under alarms that significantly disrupted the school routine.
The sanctions that the teachers' union, Sharan Erez, announced will harm the moral and social activities - on tours, trips and journeys. This is the most necessary part of education today, especially due to the instability and lack thereof in recent years. The choice to return and harm students, especially in a year of war, is unbearable and we cannot accept it."

The struggle continues.

The return to sanctions brings back tension between the parties. Parents are demanding a quick solution that will prevent further harm to students, but in the meantime, the distance between the positions remains large and negotiations between the Ministry of Education and the teachers' union are expected to continue, in the hope of reaching an agreement soon.