The price of negligence

On Sunday, June 2, thermometers reached 37 degrees in the city center, and the pursuit of air conditioning and refreshing water reached new heights.Sunday was also the day that preschool assistants in the afternoon programs held a warning strike. And though all the parties involved knew about the situation in advance, almost everyone acted as if they were caught by surprise.If no significant steps are taken immediately, the difficulties, disorder and additional burden on working parents will soon reach a new – and unbearable – peak. It will be bad for the parents, bad for the children, and very bad for the campaign of Mayor Nir Barkat, who is again placing education at the center of his new campaign.How did this happen? The somewhat overused expression “the writing was on the wall” couldn’t be better used than in this case. In Jerusalem readers may remember the highly publicized issue of the low-cost afternoon programs offered to Jerusalem parents of children aged three and four as one of the few positive results of the 2011 social protests. As per the Trajtenberg Report’s recommendations, as part of the attempt to ease the burden on young families, the government through the municipalities offered afternoon programs at NIS 180 instead of close to NIS 900. Such afternoon programs were promised by many community centers, but when they saw how little income these programs would generate, many reneged, leaving the parents with a beautiful promise but no solutions. It took many weeks to work out a viable solution, to employ assistants for the afternoon programs, involving a long and ugly struggle to obtain fair compensation.But all that was already in the past – at least, so thought many parents.And here we are now, stuck again, having endured a one-day strike, with probably a longer one ahead, and the summer vacation looming – with no solution whatsoever.The education system’s summer vacation lasts two months, from July through August. Three years ago, City Council member Rachel Azaria passed the revolutionary “11th month” decision, which enabled attendance for an additional month at public kindergartens at a very low cost. This worked for the past two years, and with summer vacation once again upon us, everyone thought this would naturally be implemented in afternoon programs in public kindergartens as well.In reality, the municipality decided to go for a strange solution. Teachers and preschool teachers are paid per year, meaning they are also compensated for the two summer vacation months. However, the assistants are paid for only the 10 months of school. In this case, instead of offering them the opportunity for summer work and a higher salary, the “additional job” was offered to the staff teachers and preschool teachers, with payment offered on top of their steady 12-month salary! In other words, those who are already assured of a year-long salary get a bonus, and those who hardly make it during the 10 months of school remain with nothing.It is no wonder the assistants didn’t like this, and announced they would – with the support of their union – fight the decision. What they found they faced was the municipality’s powerful workers’ committee, which is linked to the Histadrut labor federation, and a very cold shoulder at Safra Square. •

The price of negligence

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