What was supposed to be a one-day local government strike came to an early abrupt end as the courts ordered strikers to work. However, the court then learned that the nation’s labor union has ideas of its own.

The Tel Aviv Labor Court on Tuesday morning 5 Teves ordered schools to open no later than 9:00AM and teachers back to their classrooms without delay to avoid disrupting studies.

The representative of the Histadrut national labor union refused and both sides were summoned to the judge’s chambers for additional discussion. As a result, kindergartens, elementary and junior high schools were shut till 11:00AM. Schools in regional councils were open but were shutting at 3:00PM, earlier than usual.

Representatives of teachers said the Education Ministry “should be embarrassed” as many teachers are not receiving their full wages. A union official explains this pertains to reimbursement for travel expenses, which have not been updated for over a year. He said they do receive something but not what they are entitled to.

The treasury and Education Ministry announced they are quite disturbed by the words and actions of Yafeh Ben-David, head of the teachers’ union, to call the strike, which they referred to as “an arbitrary reckless decision to use force”.

(YWN – Israel Desk, Jerusalem)