What was supposed to be a one-day local government strike came to an early abrupt end as the courts ordered strikers to work. However, the court then learned that the nation�s labor union has ideas of its own.

The Tel Aviv Labor Court on Tuesday morning 5 Teves ordered schools to open no later than 9:00AM and teachers back to their classrooms without delay to avoid disrupting studies.

The representative of the Histadrut national labor union refused and both sides were summoned to the judge�s chambers for additional discussion. As a result, kindergartens, elementary and junior high schools were shut till 11:00AM. Schools in regional councils were open but were shutting at 3:00PM, earlier than usual.

Representatives of teachers said the Education Ministry �should be embarrassed� as many teachers are not receiving their full wages. A union official explains this pertains to reimbursement for travel expenses, which have not been updated for over a year. He said they do receive something but not what they are entitled to.

The treasury and Education Ministry announced they are quite disturbed by the words and actions of Yafeh Ben-David, head of the teachers� union, to call the strike, which they referred to as �an arbitrary reckless decision to use force�.

(YWN � Israel Desk, Jerusalem)