[etni] Judy's story as a call to change
- From: "Iris Langer" <lanart@xxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: <judyewc@xxxxxxxxx>, <etni@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Sat, 20 Feb 2010 12:12:41 +0200
Judy, your story seems to represent the experience of many English teachers.
I have been following the emails expressing complete distrust and
frustration with the existing unions; You and Lev make some important
points.
Perhaps we should do a poll on Etni how many English teachers would support
creating an English Teacher's Union, protecting and working for the rights
of English teachers. It might not be as large as the Irgun, however, it
would certainly be more effective.
Our hard earned money would be better spent paying into a union which would
truly work for our rights.
-----Original Message-----
From: etni-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:etni-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf
Of judy
Sent: Saturday, February 20, 2010 10:04 AM
To: etni@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [etni] Re: resignations or firing....
Lev wrote: "Do you have any idea how guys like Ran Erez get elected and
how they manage to stay "elected" for so long? Have you ever taken part in
the
union elections? How does it work?"
I saw how it works. I was at the Irgun conference when Ran Erez spoke out
against Shoshana Bayer, then long-time head of Irgun HaMorim. He spoke of
corruption, self-interest, misappropriation of funds, etc., and urged
everyone to vote in Shosh Oren, who was much more honest, ethical,
dedicated, etc.
A couple of years later he was there, exposing the corruption,
self-interest, misappropriation of funds, etc. of Shosh Oren and promised to
make Irgun HaMorim the fair, teacher-oriented, ethical and moral union it
should be.
So now someone has to do the same to him.
I would like to tell two stories about the Irgun.
1) In the early 2000's, we were at a point where sanctions/strike were
being discussed again. The teachers in my school were confused and looking
for guidance. What did the Itzumim allow us to do and what didn't they?
Would there be a strike? What did we stand to lose? What might we gain?
We were therefore very happy when we heard an Irgun representative was
coming to talk to us. And indeed she did - straight from the cultural
department of the Irgun. As she waxed eloquent on the subject of theater
tickets and a possible weekend retreat, we asked her for news of what was
going on. "Oh," she said, "that's not my department. I don't know anything
about it."
2) After a period of time when I wasn't teaching, I went to work at a
Comprehensive (Mekif) school. I agreed to take one ninth-grade class, which
meant that part of my salary would be paid by the Ministry as opposed to the
city. I tried to do Ichud Misrot but was told I couldn't during the first
year.
In January, I suddenly got all those hours, retroactive, from the city -
which meant, of course, that most of it went to Income Tax. Then I
immediately got a letter from the Ministry asking for all its money back. I
replied, that I would be happy to pay them back as soon as I got my taxes
back - I did my Te'um and would soon be reimbursed.
The Ministry began harassing me - not only calling me every other day, but
calling my principal to say she had to make me pay immediately (we are
talking about 4 months of salary, most of which was deducted for taxes). I
called my local Irgun representative and was asked to fax the Ministry's
letter and other particulars. I was assured it would be taken care of.
A few weeks went by and the Ministry again harassed my principal and
myself. When I called the Irgun, the representative was very sympathetic,
and just asked me to fax it all again, since she couldn't quite remember
where she had put the material.
Of course nothing happened. I took a day off to go to the Ministry (not in
my city of course) and worked out a payment plan. No one had offered me
this. I explained the situation and negotiated a deal. This was in early
March. I paid off my debt to the Ministry in installments and eventually
got my reimbursement.
In* October *I got a call from the Irgun representative. "Hi," she said.
"How did your matter resolve itself?" I explained that I had worked out a
plan and paid off the debt. "It's all right now," I said.
"Well, of course it is," she replied. "We spoke to them. I told you we
would take care of it."
These are the people we are looking to for help. Nice. Really nice.
Judy Cohen
--
"Music will save the world." Pablo Casals
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http://www.etni.org/etnirag/
Much more than just a journal
** Etni homepage - http://www.etni.org
or - http://www.etni.org.il **
** for help - ask@xxxxxxxx **
** to post to this list - etni@xxxxxxxxxxxxx **
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