Tamir alleges 'extortion' in latest conflict over teachers' strike

Education minister responds to ad campaign that claims ministry failing to meet obligations, cites phone call in which Erez said he'd "finish her off politically."

By ABE SELIG
Tamir, Erez 224 (photo credit: Ariel Jerozolimski)
Tamir, Erez 224
(photo credit: Ariel Jerozolimski)
Education Minister Yuli Tamir came out swinging Tuesday, responding to a media campaign that has been waged against her in recent days by the Secondary School Teachers Organization that features full-page advertisements in various daily newspapers decrying the minister as "one big disappointment" and blaming her for a slew of problems facing the education system. Taking her aim at SSTO head Ran Erez, Tamir accused the teachers' union leader of "extortion," and cited a phone call Erez made to the Education Ministry recently, in which he purportedly told an official he was going to " finish [Tamir] off politically." "Before the start of this campaign, senior officials in the ministry received phone calls from Erez, who said that if I didn't give in to his demands - which would effectively destroy the reforms and the teachers' union - he would finish me off politically," Tamir said during a press conference held Tuesday morning. "He said he would go after my head, and that what he did to [former education minister] Limor Livnat was just the beginning," Tamir claimed. "To say something like that to a senior official is repulsive and unacceptable, certainly when it comes from an education figure. It is repulsive political extortion that needs to be stopped here and now. I made it clear that there was no chance I would give in to the demands." Tamir went on to say that Erez had a "huge responsibility for part of the failures the education system is now dealing with," and that the SSTO head "has for years embarked on a campaign of extortion." "The campaign against me is not only against me, but is aimed at frightening the next education minister, who will say, 'I won't mess with Ran Erez,'" Tamir said. "Let it be clear to the public, Ran Erez's attempts to threaten me have not succeeded. Reforms will continue in high schools, junior high school and soon also in kindergartens," she said. Tamir added that she had considered for a long time whether to share the story of the phone calls with the media, and said her decision was not easy. The education also said that in her opinion, Erez had actually prevented significant salary raises from being granted to teachers and additional teaching hours from being added. But the SSTO's claims - featured in the full-page newspaper ads - are that it's the Education Ministry that's failing to meet its various obligations, including restoring teaching hours and decreasing class sizes. The SSTO has also accused the ministry of refusing to negotiate with the organization to come up with solutions. In response to that allegation, the Education Ministry published a full timetable of its meetings between the SSTO and the ministry's negotiating team, to prove that talks were indeed being conducted. After Tamir's press conference, Erez responded, "It's easy for the minister to make accusations of extortion, but all I want is that she honor agreements she has signed. I will check exactly what was alleged, and I will likely file a libel suit against her. The public is not stupid and understands that the number of pupils has gone up, classroom hours that were cut have not been restored from January 2008 and teachers that should have retired have not been able to due to problems created by the minister herself." Erez admitted that he had spoken to a senior Education Ministry official, claiming that the contact was his liaison to Tamir. "Each time they blew me off. They said wait until Rosh Hashana - I waited. They said wait until Succot - I waited. They said 'wait until Simhat Torah, we're abroad' - I waited. On Wednesday, I met the [education] minister and she said, 'I am not prepared to implement what was agreed,' so I told her I would fight for it. I told the senior official I could not wait and that if my demands were not met, I would fight. It isn't extortion, I tried to find a solution," he concluded. Later Tuesday, Defense Minister Ehud Barak entered the fray, condemning "Erez's verbal attack against the education minister and his use of threats as a way to influence the education system's performance."