The new teachers' agreement: short-term success, long-term risk

Tal Verdi, a teacher, explains: The teachers fought and won for air to breathe, but the Treasury won achievements that could harm organised labour in the future

By Tal Verdi, 28, Haifa, an educator and civics teacher

Editor Maayan Galili

Translation using Google Translate with minor edits by Lior Suchoy

Date of original publication: 27/9/2024

Original Hebrew text: https://www.rosamedia.org/episodes/articles/54

After more than two and a half years without a salary agreement, this week the Teachers’ Union (TU) [Irgun Hamorim ארגון המורים], which represents the high school teachers [in Israel], finally negotiated and signed a new salary agreement. The long and persistent struggle waged by the TU against the Ministry of Finance, under the leadership of Ran Erez, ultimately resulted in many successes, which will immediately improve teachers' salaries and give the teaching public some breathing space. At the same time, the Treasury came out with the upper hand [promoting] several policies that could become obstacles in the long term and weaken the power of organised labour. In the future, undermining the power of [all Israeli] teachers' unions will most likely lead to worsening wages and benefits.

Let's start with the positive sides: the agreement guarantees us teachers immediate and significant salary increases. We will receive a one-off grant designed to compensate for the previous academic year, which started with the promise of an agreement that would include salary increases which ultimately did not materialise: every teacher who worked during the 2023-24 [תשפ"ד] academic year will receive a grant of NIS 9,600 for a full-time position, equivalent to a wage increase of NIS 800 per month. Although this is an achievement, it is important to note that the transfer of the grant in a centralised and retroactive manner is a success of the Treasury in saving money at the expense of the teachers, because if the amount had been added to the teachers' salary already in the previous September, as promised, we would have also benefited from the social benefits for this salary, a saving which, by itself, made it be worthwhile for the Treasury to extend the dispute. In addition, starting this September, all teachers will receive a uniform increase in the amount of NIS 1,200 to their monthly salary, and together with more modest increases at the beginning of each academic year until September 2027, a teacher's salary on his first day in high school will cross the NIS 10,000 mark next year, [which is] a decent amount. On the other hand, in the years to come until the end of the agreement in August 2028, teachers' salaries will increase by about NIS 250 per year, and considering the rate of inflation and the increase in the cost of living in Israel, it is likely that in three years the teachers will once again feel that their salaries are not increasing enough in relation to how expensive it will be to live here.

Another success of the new agreement is an improvement in the variety of additional roles [Gmulei Tafkid גמולי תפקיד] that will receive an increase in the remuneration percentage to which they are entitled: IT coordinators [Rakazei Tikshuv רכזי תקשוב], social education [Hinukh Hevrati חינוך חברתי], pedagogy, specialised class coordinators [Rakazei Mik’tzoa רכזי מקצוע], special education teachers and educational consultants [Yoatzot Hinukhiot יועצות חינוכיות] - all will receive an increase in the remuneration percentage to which they are entitled. A 'skills coordinator' [Rakaz Meyumanuyot רכז מיומנויות] role has been added whose job it is to implement the new graduation program that is being implemented for year 10 this year, and the school principals will be given flexible sums that they award to roles of their choosing and reward them accordingly with hundreds of NIS per month. This welcome step will increase the educational autonomy of the schools and will allow each high school to appoint proffesionals specific to the needs of its students [community]: climate and environment coordinator, activism and democracy, Mekhinot [מכינות] and extended volunteering year [Shnat Sheirut שנת שירות] coordinator or any other initiative that comes up. In addition, [the agreement includes] a section which guarantees a minimum of NIS 1,000 per month for classroom leaders [Mechankhim מחנכים] and NIS 1,100 for age group coordinators [Rakazei Shkhavot רכזי שכבות]. This part is particularly important because it benefits those brave educators who chose to lead a classroom already in their early stages in the system, when their salary, from which the percentage reward for teaching a class is derived, is still low.

Treasury's achievements and their risks

These parts [of the agreement mentioned above] and several others guarantee breathing space for the entire teachers’ community, who will receive significant salary increases immediately, and especially for us - the early career teachers for whom a uniform increase means a greater [relative] increase compared to the current salary. But alongside all these successes, most of which are significant mainly in the short term, the agreement has quite a few prices that we will have to pay.

The most significant part, at least in my opinion, is changing the [teacher’s] job structure. Although the work week will be shortened from 40 to 38 hours, behind these agreeable numbers lies a grim reality. First, the reduction in working hours will come at the expense of ‘individual hours’ - hours dedicated to teaching of small groups of students. These hours, which were cut in half as part of the agreement, are meant to allow teachers to assist the weakest students - academically and financially - who have difficulty keeping up with the rest of the class. The meaning of this cut will be a significant retreat in equality between students in schools, with the students who are behind academically anyway, and sometimes also cannot afford private tutoring, be pushed further behind, while the rest will continue running forward. A second clause, related [to this first one] will add another one frontal teaching hour to every teacher. From now on we will be required to teach 25 in the classroom each week, about 65% of the working time. This is an easy fix that was very important to the Minister of Education, because it will slightly alleviate the shortage in teachers immediately. In the long run, this is equivalent to applying aloe vera to a fractured skull, and this step will increase the dropout rate of teachers who have given up on the never-ending running between classrooms and students. Also, the fact that the [amount] of presence hours – dedicated to [teaching] planning – were not increased accordingly, indicates that most of what will happen is not a shortening of the work week, but an increase in the “ghost hours” that the teachers work but are not being paid for. According to the new agreement, a teacher will have 9 minutes to prepare each lesson, including checking homework, assignments and tests given in class, and it is clear that this time is unrealistic and that a large number of teachers will continue to work far beyond those 9 minutes.

The core of the dispute between the teachers and the Treasury, at least according to media reports, was the issue of personal contracts. [The final decision is that] personal contracts are not included, but 'teaching fellows' are. The change in semantics is indeed important, but in practice it is more of the same, and this is where the TU breaks down. Starting next year, up to 6% [of the workforce] will be employed by teaching fellows in each high school in subjects that the Ministry of Education will define. The teaching fellows will be those who do not have teaching training, and which will be employed for a limited period of time without [the protection provided by] the collective agreements of the TU. It was determined that this will be a four-year pilot [of the ‘teaching fellows’ tool], at the end of which there will be another discussion about this tool, and that close monitoring will be required to see how this tool is used and how it is constructed. Nevertheless, the employment of teachers, or 'teaching fellows’, outside of the collective agreements, means that they are not protected [against exploitation and are unlimited] in the amount of frontal classroom teaching hours they will be required to perform, and they may even be asked to be classroom leaders without rewarding them accordingly, which will only add to their burden and difficulty and increase frustration. What is certain is that [using ‘teaching fellow’] will not benefit the students and the [entire] education system, [a point which] the Ministry of Education also agrees on. So why did the Treasury insist on this clause? Very simply - to weaken the power of the TU and break the solidarity between the teaching staff who teach side by side in the same schools.

The last point where the TU failed is the issue of payment for strike days. Smotrich [the Treasury minister – LS] threatened during the dispute that he would not allow to swap strike days and would not pay for them as part of the agreement, which led to stress and anger among the teachers and the TU. It seems that at the end of the day, the teachers lost here. Out of the 7 days of strike, we will receive payment for 5 days that will be swapped [for break time] during the Hanukkah and Passover school breaks, and the remaining two days will be deducted from the salary. This loss is not only an economic matter, but a blow to other workers' organisations that will strive to improve their wages in the future and damage the power of organised labour in Israel.

Although the new agreement does not bring radical change that will save the starving education system, it was not meant to serve such goal either. It gives breathing space to those who have already chosen to enter the education system, especially in recent years, and want to continue to progress [their career], improve and take on new roles. In order to give the education system the profound change it so desperately needs, a new work agreement is not enough, and perhaps it is time for the TU to also fight for issues such as reducing the number of students in the classroom, renovating and building new schools, changing the methods of assessment and teaching, strengthening the status of teachers within the Israeli public, and more. The main question is whether in four years, when we once again enter a loop of disputes, strikes, threats and finally an agreement - will the public and media finger be pointed at the teachers and the TU as usual, and will they [the Treasury – LS] once again assure us that just a little more privatisation of the system everything will be fine? Or the finger of blame be pointing at the source of the problem - the Treasury and its neoliberal and tight policy, which only sees in front of its eyes the reduction of government spending and the weakening of the labour unions. This is the most important struggle, not only for the TU - but for all of us.

Translation notes:

The word ‘students’ is used in this text to translate the Hebrew term תלמיד. In the context of this text, it refers to teens aged 15-18 and is loosely equivalent to further education (FE) level in the UK