Junior academics join lecturers' strike
As act of solidarity with senior academics, junior ranks hold one-day strike Tuesday
The strike is a one-off and will last just one day, during which junior lecturers will disrupt studies for a number of hours, hold explanatory conversations with students, and discuss the difficult state of academia in Israel.
The university lecturers' strike has entered its ninth day, and in the meantime meeting between senior academic staff representatives and the Ministry of Finance have failed to deliver results.
The senior staff's coordination committee said that if no progress is seen in negotiations with the Ministry of Finance over a new contract in coming days, the academics will escalate their struggle and take further steps.
Professor Zvi Hacohen, chairman of the coordination committee, said: "The employment of junior academics in these conditions encourages the best of our students to escape overseas. The Ministry of Finance's short-sighted policy is deteriorating higher education daily.
"We can't stand on the sidelines when teachers are being fired every year after eight months of work and members of the junior academic staff are earning starvation wages with almost no social rights."
The government must restrain finance officials who are having their way with education, and prevent the collapse of higher education, which is being brought about by near-sighted steps."
The student's union said that the struggle of teachers and lecturers "is invaluably important for the future of education in the State of Israel."
The union added that the educational system is currently facing a broken water trough and that all actors must do their best to save the severe situation.
"It seems that the education and higher education systems are facing collapse and are not far from the point of no return," a union source said.
