David Ben-Gurion today became Acting Minister of Education of Israel–in addition to being Prime Minister, Minister of Defense and Acting Minister of Posts. He assumed the fourth portfolio after the Cabinet, at its session yesterday, finally accepted the resignation of Education Minister Zalman Aranne.
Mr. Aranne tendered his resignation two months ago, after his own Mapai Party colleagues in the Cabinet refused to back him on an issue involving high school teachers who formed a splinter union, breaking away from the overall Teachers Union. The latter organization is part of Histadrut, the Israel Federation of Labor which, in turn, is most influential in the affairs of the Mapai Party.
The secondary schoolteachers have been conducting a non-cooperation strike for many months, refusing to cooperate with the Education Ministry or with school officials until their demands for higher pay and increased social security are granted, Mr. Aranne had informed the Cabinet that he would negotiate the dispute with the splinter union. When the Cabinet, at the insistence of Histadrut, ordered him not to recognize the secondary teachers’ union, he quit. There had been hopes that he would reconsider his resignation.
Mr. Ben Gurion would try, as Acting Minister of Education, to settle the dispute with the high school teachers. Then, it is presumed, Mr. Aranne would resume his place in the Cabinet.
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