Israel’s Labor Court has asked all relevant parties to finalize an agreement on whether or not to extend the current school year.
The Education Ministry and the Israel Teachers Union held discussions on Thursday night, but, as a conclusion was not agreed upon by Friday morning, the Labor Court sent all parties away to discuss, with the aim of providing an answer by Friday afternoon at 4 p.m.
Labor Court judges recommended that the parties mediate before a legal decision is reached, even thought the union had requested to go straight to a court decision.
Judges of the court felt that to ask teachers to teach for nine more days would be burdensome on the grounds that it was a violation of their employment rights after months of working in difficult conditions from home during the coronavirus pandemic. Judges additionally scolded state representatives for leaving the decision to the last minute.
Earlier today the Education Ministry and Finance Ministry, along side local authorities, requested the Labor Court to order an injunction against the Israel Teacher’s Union. The injunction comes in in light of the Teacher’s Union’s opposition to newly appointed Education Minister Yoav Gallant’s request to extend the school year by nine days. The decision to extend was made to help make up the nine days of school that were missed in March, when the country shut down to help stop the spread of the coronavirus.
In a briefing held earlier this week Gallant said that a deal was struck between the Israel Teacher’s Union, headed by Ron Erez, and the Education and Finance Ministries to add the extra days, however the agreement was not signed by The Israel Teacher’s Union, and Erez refused to come to the negotiating table. A final decision about extending schools was expected by the end of this week, and Gallant and Erez were scheduled to meet in court to finalize the decision days after the initial agreement. Today the meeting that was scheduled between Gallant and Erez was cancelled.
In response to the Israel Teacher’s Union’s opposition Gallant said “our decision is the decision. The government stands behind it.”
He told reporters earlier this week that the Education Ministry has the “tools” to ensure that teachers show up for class if a scenario arrives in which they refuse to do so – although he does not expect having to use them.
The Israel Teachers’ Union responded that the agreement it signed was based on the principle of “equality among all teaching staff.” In other words, if Erez, who represents middle and high school teachers, does not agree to let the teachers extend the year, the younger grades will not extend the year either.
Maayan Jaffe-Hoffman contributed to this report.
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