Legislators' Salaries and Teachers' Salaries

by Dr. Abdul-Sattar Kassem

Suddenly, the local news broke with a proposal, or draft law, to set the salaries of members of the Legislative Council and of the ministers. A Council member’s salary is currently 8,600 shekels, or about two thousand dollars. The draft proposes raising it to three thousand dollars, an increase of 35%. The Legislative Council convened to discuss a number of issues, and the salary was not originally on the agenda at all. The matter was raised before the Council, and the draft was approved in both the general and first readings. The draft stipulates that a member receive a pension worth 12.5% of his salary for every year of service, up to a ceiling of 80% of the salary — meaning a member receives 50% of his salary after only four years of service on the Council. This is in addition to other privileges.

States take care to estimate the expected expenses of a legislative council member so as to treat him fairly and to prevent him from facing financial ruin because of expenses tied to the position. But the matter is not left to members of the legislature alone to decide their own salaries; neutral and impartial bodies also take part in setting it, so as to guarantee that the position is not exploited.

It is correct — indeed necessary — that the salaries of members of the legislature and the cabinet, and also the salary of the president, be fixed by law and publicly announced. This draft law is overdue, but the exploitation of the position built into it is very clear. Moreover, the draft law does not even include the president’s salary.

…their electoral [platforms], and many of them turned their backs on the people once they had “won.” Others obtained money to which they had no right, while for some, their entire function is submitting lists recommending assistance, from the President, for individuals who do not deserve it. A small number of them stood by the people and tried to handle their affairs honestly. Even the Legislative Council extended its confidence to corrupt individuals, and some of its members took part in executive functions and in normalization activities with the Zionist Jews.

By comparison, the teacher — who is supposed to be something like a messenger — is nearly consumed by the scarcity of money. Long, bitter years of financial scarcity and a meager salary. The teacher’s task in our country is extremely difficult, and far more important than the task of a member of the Legislative Council. What the Legislative Council has accomplished so far (with respect to some of its members) toward liberating the homeland, sweeping away the settlers, and raising the Palestinian flag over the minarets of Jerusalem does not merit the teacher’s salary. But what the teacher accomplishes through his effort certainly merits the salary of a member of the Legislative Council.

Teachers have, for many long years, been demanding that the occupation and the Authority raise their salary, but the bitterness of the suffering they endure with every demand outweighs, on the scale, whatever raise they end up receiving. This is in addition to the arrests some of them face, and the harassment from security service personnel who infiltrate their ranks in order to sabotage the strike.

I believe the priority now should go to teachers, to workers who are productive, and likewise to the stipends of the families of martyrs, prisoners, and detainees

Source: Translated from the original Arabic, “رواتب التشريعي ورواتب المعلمين” by Dr. Abdul-Sattar Kassem.