Olmert: 'I Won't Give in to Teachers'

With the high school teachers strike 19 days old, pressure is mounting on Prime Minister Ehud Olmert to get personally involved.

The chairman of the Teachers Union and leader of the strike, Ran Erez, has called on Olmert to meet with teachers' representatives for the first time since the strike began on Oct. 10.  "Only the Prime Minister himself can save the country's educational system from total collapse,"  Erez  said.  "With round-the-clock top-level negotiations, we can reach an agreement in 48 hours."

Olmert does not appear ready to take up the gauntlet.  "I do not intend to surrender to the demands of the Teachers Union," he said at the beginning of Sunday's Cabinet meeting. "I have full confidence in the Education Minister [Yuli Tamir], and I do not intend to call off the reforms already decided upon between the Finance and Education Ministries and the Histadrut Teachers Association.

The reference was to the other teachers union, the larger of the two, with which an agreement was reached several months ago.

Teachers Will Quit Rather than Return to Work

Finance Minister Roni Bar-On and Education Minister Tamir met this morning, and said they were considering petitioning the Labor Court to issue back-to-work orders.  The teachers have prepared for this option, and 1,000 of them have signed letters of resignation, which they will submit in the event that such orders are issued.

Transportation Minister Sha'ul Mofaz took the teachers' side this morning, expressing his opposition to back-to-work orders. "You can't force teachers to teach, and education is not done by force," he said.  Mofaz called upon Bar-On and Tamir to explain the root of the dispute. "It's not clear exactly what the argument is all about," he said.

Dozens of teachers and parents from Gush Etzion and Efrat held a protest vigil at the Gush Etzion junction Sunday morning, holding signs reading, "Cheap education is expensive!"  Another several dozen protested outside the President's Residence in Jerusalem, calling on President Shimon Peres to intervene on their behalf. One teacher said he has an M.A., and that after three years of teaching, his gross monthly salary is only 4,900 shekels.