Junior staff members at Jerusalem's Hebrew University decided to cancel classes between 8:00 a.m. and 4:00 p.m. Wednesday in a sympathy strike with their more senior colleagues after the Council of University Presidents turned to the National Labor Court with a petition to force professors back to the classrooms.
The move has opened an unprecedented rift between the presidents, who are recruited from the professors' rank and file, and their former colleagues. Faculty associations at a number of universities expressed harsh criticism of the decision.
Legal threats have never before been used by university administrations in labor disputes.The current standoff stems from a weeks-long deadlock between professors and Finance Ministry over the deterioration in the value of their salaries in the past six years, which have not been raised with the standard of living.
The strike, which began with the start of the school year, now threatens to torpedo the entire first semester, which will create a domino effect that may destroy working relationships between Israeli and foreign universities, who depend on funding for joint research projects with international institutions. Senior officials have also raised doubts as to whether it is viable to hold a second semester when most courses are based on a two-semester time frame.
If it continues, it will also destroy students' ability to graduate on time and proceed to the next step in their education, in many cases on to graduate programs in other universities. For others, it may mean lost employment opportunities.
At Hebrew University in Jerusalem, the Faculty Association voted 360-10 Tuesday to denounce the university's administration and the Council of University Presidents, according to Ha'aretz.
Professor Menachem Magidor, president of the university, decided after the vote that the struggle wasn't worth it and told reporters that if the senior staff called for his dismissal, he would quit. "I have no intention of holding on to my position if the senior staff does not support me," he said.
Professor Asher Cohen of Tel Aviv University, a member of the negotiating team that has for weeks tried to work out a wage agreement with the government, said the decision by university presidents to take legal action would backfire.
"We will honor the court orders," he said, but we will stop coordinating with the university. For example, we won't approve new curricula, we won't participate in university committees or in national committees," he said. Such a move would also paralyze funding mechanisms at the institutions.