Last update - 00:00 18/10/2007
University professors to strike after talks with government fail
By Tamara Traubmann, Haaretz Correspondent
The union of senior academic professionals on Thursday announced that university professors would begin striking on Sunday after negotiations with the Treasury and the Education Ministry over a new wage agreement failed to yield results.
The strike will delay the opening of the academic year, which was scheduled to begin October 21.
"The negotiations failed and the strike is on its way," said Professor Zvi Cohen, chair of the Coordinating Committee of Faculty Associations in Israel.
Professors have held consecutive meetings over the last three days with the Treasury's supervisor of wages, Eli Cohen, and Education Minister Yuli Tamir.
Ahead of Thursday's decision, university presidents were reviewing a proposal for an NIS 300 million addition to the higher education budget. But the professors have additional financial demands. College directors said they would not joint the strike.
The proposal by the Prime Minister's Bureau for the gradual increase in funds matches the demands university presidents have made as a condition to starting classes as scheduled on Sunday.
Despite negotiations Wednesday between Professor Moshe Kaveh, chairman of the Committee of University Heads, and the prime minister's financial advisor, Prof. Manuel Trachtenberg, the parties were not able to reach an agreement. The treasury's budget directorate and Education Minister Yuli Tamir were also involved in the talks.
Kaveh sent Prime Minister Ehud Olmert a letter Wednesday in which he asked him to intervene "at the eleventh hour" to reach an agreement all sides can approve of before the academic year is delayed.
The university presidents are demanding the NIS 300 million addition to counteract gradual cutbacks that have allegedly compromised research quality and the quality of teaching.
The professors' association, meanwhile, is also demanding the treasury renegotiate a wage agreement to replace the one that expired six years ago. They, too, are saying that they will not begin teaching unless their demands are met.
Faculty staff and treasury representatives have to work out their disagreements involving compensation for university teachers and lecturers for wage erosion. Wednesday and Tuesday, faculty representatives met with treasury officials but the meeting failed to result in making any substantial headway.
Instead of complying with staff demands for a pay raise, the treasury is proposing a three-month deliberation period to determine the rate of wage erosion and how to compensate for it.
"Right now, we don't see how we can begin the school year on time," Professor Zvi Cohen from the faculty's associations' committee told Haaretz.
By contrast, a group of private college directors said Wednesday they would not join their university counterparts if they go ahead with their plans to strike.
In a letter to university presidents, the college directors asked their colleagues "to refrain from causing additional damage to the system and the students." Teacher training colleges and medical faculties also considered joining the strike unless the government allocates additional funds for education. Tamir said her ministry had worked out an agreement with the treasury for allocating NIS 22 million for teacher training colleges. According to the agreement reached Tuesday, Tamir said, half of that sum is to come from the treasury, and the other half from the ministry.
Additionally, medical students' tuition will be lowered to equal tuition for bachelor's degrees - as stipulated in the agreement the ministry had reached with the students.