Negotiators representing chareidi parties working to form a coalition government are working to protect the salaries of kindergartens teachers, particularly those in the chareidi system, Kikar Shabbos News reports. They point out that this is particularly necessary pertaining in cases when funds for salaries seem to disappear, stating this outrageous phenomenon must soon disappear.

Kikar Shabbos News reports that in an effort to anchor and improve the teachers’ salaries, Shas and Yahadut Hatorah leaders are initiating a move that will require the Ministry of Education to budget the chareidi teachers for proper wages, while at the same time being equal to that received by kindergarten teachers in the state school system.

After the 2015 elections, the chareidi parties demanded that the Ministry of Education transfer a budget for chareidi kindergarten teachers to the early childhood education institutions, the same as for preschool teachers with 15 years of seniority.

But while the Education Ministry transferred the budget to the kindergartens in full, most of the chareidi teachers did not receive the promised salary, and in actuality, paid much less.

The report quotes a senior Yahadut Hatorah source explaining that chareidi kindergarten teachers receive a maximum of NIS 8,000 monthly, but in reality, they only receive a top salary of NIS 6,000. Now, Yahadut Hatorah and Shas demand that the teachers’ salaries be equal to that of the teachers in the state network, and that the previous summary, according to which all the preschool teachers are supposed to receive a seniority rating of 15 years. In addition, they claim that some of the directors of kindergartens ‘concealed’ funds earmarked for their salaries, giving one reason or another for the discrepancy.

During the week, the Bnei Brak Mayor and the secretary of the Degel Hatorah Moetzas Gedolei Torah, Avraham Rubinstein, met with MKs from Degel Hatorah and Agudas Yisrael.

According to Rubinstein, the municipality of Bnei Brak allocated the salaries of those kindergarten teachers – which was supposed to be on the basis of seniority of 15 years or more – but the money did not arrive.

In a meeting with the MKs, Rubinstein demanded that the Education Ministry budget the salaries of chareidi kindergarten teachers, even those whose seniority exceeds 15 years, as in the state-religious system.

It should be noted that the Bnei Brak Municipality Director-General Shmulik Litov and MK Moshe Arbel of Shas have acted to ensure that the demands on the subject, in the current coalition negotiations, will be shared by Shas and Yahadut Hatorah in their agreements with the Likud, with the aim of ending the discrimination.

(YWN Israel Desk – Jerusalem)