Professors of Palestinian universities strike over row with PA

Professors from Palestinian universities across the Gaza Strip and West Bank went on a one day strike, Monday, to protest the withdrawal of Palestinian Authority (PA) ministry of education and higher education from financial and administrative agreements reached in 2008, reports Quds Press.

The Palestinian Federation of Unions of University Professors and Employees (PFUUPE) called for the strike on Monday, as well as organising protests in front of the head office of the PA ministerial council in Ramallah.

Speaking to Quds Press, the head of the PFUUPE, Amjad Barham, said: “We agreed on almost all issues with the government a few days ago, but the Council of High Education did not approve the agreement. Therefore, the union decided to take action on Monday and Wednesday of this week and Monday and Tuesday next week.”

Barham noted that the universities could begin a “comprehensive strike if the government continued turning its back to the demands of the university professors and employees.”

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He blamed the Council of the Higher Education and the administrations of the universities for the crisis and called for them to support the rights and refrain from their “destructive” decisions.

The PFUUPE stressed that all the universities are “obligated” to observe all the rights of professors and employees that are stipulated in the agreements signed with the employees’ unions, which includes all established staff before September 2017.

In addition, the PFUUPE said that the measures taken keep up with the Palestinian Labour Law, stating that dealing with the delays in the education process would be based on the laws and regulations in force.