The Israel Teachers Union (ITU) on Monday morning is striking for two hours in preschools, elementary schools, and middle schools in the Haifa area, in protest of the freeze on salary negotiations with the Finance Ministry.
The Haifa-area strikes follow similar strikes in central Israel and in Jerusalem.
The ITU has warned that if the Finance Ministry does not speed up the negotiations on teachers' salaries, the strikes will worsen.
ITU Secretary-General Yaffa Ben David said, "Until now we acted with great patience, because the educational system is important to us. With the current speed of things, the Finance Ministry is pushing us to increase the strikes."
"It is very sad that the voices of the Prime Minister and Alternate Prime Minister have not been heard on the matter, and that they do not lift a finger for those employed in education."