[etni] Union

From: Renee wahl <wahlrenew@xxxxxxxxx>
To: etni@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Date: Wed, 22 Jul 2009 09:34:01 +0300
I'm not a socialist or a union groupie, but after our meeting with Ran Erez
the other day, I believe I have a better idea of what's going on.
First of all, those of you who think that the union hasn't been getting the
job done, are urged to read the almost weekly letters written by Ran Erez,
which appear on the Irgun website and which you can get in your email by
simply supplying your address.  Yes, it takes a bit of effort to read them
in Hebrew, but you can't complain that the union isn't doing anything if you
don't bother to read their reports.  Anyhow, reading some Hebrew now and
then is good for the soul - it reminds us how difficult it is to do an
unseen in L2.
Secondly, these things take time, lots of patience and constant pressure
from below.  All of us write very fluently on ETNI about our concerns, the
points that need to be made and our difficulties.  How many of you are
willing to write a fax in Hebrew - even once a month?  Just as we say "Oh
no!" when we get a letter to read in Hebrew, you can be sure that the people
at the Irgun will put our English letters in a place to 'read later'.  So
you'll need to make that extra effort to write them in Hebrew if you want to
be 'heard'

Third, to say that the Irgun is not effective is not fair.  Getting results
when dealing with a bureaucracy is like applying the Chinese water torture.
You cannot ignore the successes and harp only on what has not yet been
achieved.  This is not to say that we should for one minute slacken up.  A
good example of a recent success is the fact that there is an agreement
regarding payment for our work with LD pupils.  It hasn't been implemented
in your school???  So why haven't you complained to the Irgun?  I was
present when we told Ran Erez that ORT teachers haven't a clue as to how to
obtain payment.  He was shocked and immediately phoned Dan Shamir, taking
him to task about this failure to implement the agreement.  You wouldn't
believe the excuses and manipulations Mr. Shamir tried with Mr. Erez
standing firm.  I seem to remember that a new law has been passed holding
employers legally liable for unpaid wages and benefits.  The Irgun is the
perfect tool for testing this new law if all else fails, so if you want the
agreement to be implemented, make sure you keep them informed (name, ID,
email, phone number, school, etc.) and be sure to keep records of every bit
of extra work you have done with your LD pupils (preparing tapes, giving
extra time (yours), reading them the text or questions, the nature of the
task - quiz, test, matkonet....name and grade of the pupil and their ID
number).  Do it now, because the agreement is retroactive to SEPTEMBER 2008
and if you haven't already forgotten the details, you will.

No, I am not satisfied with the rate of progress we are making on the issues
that concern English teachers, but as many people have already said, this is
the only union that we have (and kol hakavod to those people who are trying
to organize a separate union, but I still believe that it will take them
more time to gain the political savvy and connections to be effective, than
it will take us to push the tools we have now into doing a better job),
except if you consider the mass sell out by Histadrut Hamorim to be a viable
alternative.


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[etni] Union

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