Teachers: Strike long way from being over

The strike in high schools across Israel will continue Sunday, after a meeting of the board of the High and Middle School Teacher's Association on a proposed compromise deal to end the strike yielded no results.

The teachers discussed an agreement formulated by the national labor court, but agreed to postpone their final decision to Sunday, after they will hold meeting with representatives of the Treasury and the Education Ministry.

Head of the association Ran Erez told Ynet that the offer failed to include a commitment for a substantial budget increase, or to stipulate when and how the funds should be allotted.

"If the prime minister does not intervene in order to resolve this conflict – which is not only a labor dispute of a workers union, but also the result of a profound national crisis – then this struggle will continue for much longer," Erez stated.

Education Minister Yuli Tamir said that she regretted the teachers' decision to reject the labor court's proposal.

Agreement: Wage rise, less students in classroom  

Prior to the meeting, sources at the association told Ynet that the deal would probably be rejected, because the Finance Ministry's offers did not appear to be substantial enough.

According to the compromise deal that was presented to the teachers, the government would allocate NIS 100 million for extra teaching hours, and increase the education budget in order to finance a cut in the number of students per classroom.

Additionally, the agreement offers the teachers a wage rise of 26-34% in exchange for a reform that would include an increase in their work hours.

The national labor court has ordered the two sides to submit a written report of the progress in negotiations between them by Sunday evening.