The Strike!

Israel's Irgun Morim, the teachers union I and most high school teachers are members of, is about to go on strike. The other union, Histadrut Morim, which has mostly elementary school teachers, signed an agreement with the government last year. It's a very bad agreement. Many more teaching hours are required for a drop more money.

• No special, reduced hours for mothers of young children nor the elderly teachers like me.
• No special payments for those of us high school teachers who prepare the kids for Bagrut, the national matriculation tests.

I don't know if our school will strike; though we're all in favor of our union's stand. Traditionally, schools in Judea and Samaria don't strike, since we don't want the kids wandering around. Today we're getting the union's decision if we may join the strike or not.

Fewer and fewer young people are studying education, because the salaries are low, and the new agreements make teachers' lives even more difficult. With added required hours, there's no time to take on extra jobs.