Negotiations between the Finance Ministry and the senior academic staff will resume on Monday.  The staff is demanding a pay raise, saying that the true value of lecturers’ salaries has decreased over the past several years due to inflation.

The senior academic staff has been on strike for more than 40 days, and university courses that were to have been taught by senior lecturers have not been held since the beginning of the semester.  Haifa University students announced Sunday that they would close the gates to campus on Monday, shutting down courses taught by the junior staff in order to increase pressure on the government.