BREAKING NEWS

BGU administrative and technical staff protests working conditions

Hundreds of administrative and technical staff of Ben-Gurion University of the Negev staged a protest outside the university’s administration building on Sunday, declaring work sanctions in protest of their employment conditions.
According to the administrative and technical staff union, which comprises some 1,200 employees, university staff are paid up to 30% less than their counterparts at other leading universities throughout the country.
“We will not give in to management threats and we will fight for our rights. There can’t be a situation where university veteran employees, with over a decade seniority, will have to supplement their base salary,” said Avner Mizrahi, chairman of the administrative and technical staff union on Sunday.
The university issued a statement in response saying, “The University administration presented the Committee for Administrative and Technical Workers Union (henceforth, union) with a detailed proposal to end the labor dispute, which is based on a joint request to the Treasury’s salaries supervisor to approve salary increases at a cost of NIS 6 million a year, payment of financial grants to outstanding employees and transition grants for employees who have been in the same position for many years.”
However, the union rejected the university’s proposal, claiming that the NIS 6 million salary increases would amount to only a 3 percent increase in employees’ salaries.
“It is a shame that the union chooses unnecessary and unjust battles, instead of striving for cooperation and joining forces to do everything possible to promote the interests of the employees,” the university statement said.