Last update - 00:00 26/08/2007
Tamir, teachers' group fail to reach deal to thwart strike
By Or Kashti
Education Minister Yuli Tamir met Sunday afternoon with the chairman of Secondary School Teachers' Association, Ron Erez, but the two failed to strike a deal to prevent a strike slated for next week.
"The education minister doesn't have the authority to sign a new salary agreement. She said she tried to convince the Finance Ministry to compromise, but she didn't succeed," Erez said.
The organization submitted on Sunday to the National Labor Court a response to a request by the Education Ministry and the treasury to issue an injunction against the strike.
"The prevention of the possibility to put pressure on the state is a direct blow to the choice of 40,000 teachers to organize," the response reads.
"The petitioners [the education and finance ministries] don't even have one practical claim against the strike," the response continues.
The National Labor Court will hold a hearing on the issue in coming days.
The teachers' attorneys, in the response, also write that the state "is hiding the fact that it is the one to have ruined negotiations, and not the organization, as it disingenuously claims. The ruin of the negotiations was carried out deliberately and cruelly, in telling the organization that it must 'give up and agree,' and that they 'aren't afraid of the threat of a strike' and that 'if the organization strikes, they'll go to the media and present the organization as wild, irresponsible, and refusing to reach an agreement like that reached with the teachers' union."
However, the request by the Education Ministry and Finance Ministry acknowledged it would be "appropriate to reach a compromise with the organization," but said that "it is holding steadfastly to its positions, in a way that is incompatible with the acceptable way to conduct negotiations."