With the Secondary Schools Teachers' Association set to strike grades seven to 12 in the greater Tel Aviv area on Monday, student and teacher organizations Sunday announced a joint effort to fight for higher teacher salaries and lower university tuition fees.

The joint campaign will also fight plans to hire university lecturers on the basis of personal contracts, rather than collective bargaining for wages and benefits.

The Secondary Schools Teachers' Association said its "rolling strike" will cancel all classes for students in grades seven to 12 in Tel Aviv-area communities on Monday. The association Sunday struck central Israel communities outside the Tel Aviv metropolitan Tel Aviv region.

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The strike is part of a campaign that began several weeks ago, to protest a deadlock in negotiations toward a new collective bargaining agreement with the Finance Ministry.

The communities to be affected on Monday are Tel Aviv, Herzliya, Bnai Brak, Givataim, Holon, Bat Yam, Ramat Efal, Or Yehuda, Azur, Kfar Shmaryahu, Kiryat Ono, Ramat Hasharon, Ramat Gan, Hakfar Hayarok, and Mikve Yisrael.

On Tuesday, student associations will strike Tel Aviv University and the Kiryat Ono academic campus. On Wednesday, the strike will move to several college campuses across the country. The university and college strikes are linked to the deliberations of the Shohat Committee, which is examining reforms of the higher education system, including tuition hikes.

Last week, union leaders announced sanctions by secondary school teachers unaffected by the regional strikes. They are maintaining their classroom teaching duties but will not take part in extracurricular activities such as conferences, trips and performances. In addition, students with learning disabilities will not receive special assistance, and sessions to help students prepare for matriculation exams will not be held.