With just two days until the school year begins, 2 million Israeli children from preschool to high school still don’t know if they’ll really be starting school on Sept. 1.

This is because of a standing threat by teachers’ organizations to shut down the entire educational system as part of their longstanding struggle to improve their salaries and working conditions.

Negotiations between the Finance Ministry and the teachers’ labor unions have been underway for several days now in the hope that the crisis can be resolved. However, even if the two sides sign an agreement, everyone will still have a bitter taste in their mouths at the opening of the school year, and the celebrations surrounding the first day of school will suffer for it. Parents of young children are worried that they won’t be able to go to work. Key figures in the economic sector warn that the damage this could cause to the economy is enormous.

In the background of this struggle in the school system is a fight being waged by hospital interns (hospital residents), which shot up a notch five days ago. Here too, Finance Minister Avigdor Liberman is at the center of the conflict. The interns claim that the agreement signed with them just a few months ago hasn’t been honored. In protest, five days ago, some 200 interns submitted letters of resignation to the Ministry of Health. This was just the first stage of a mass resignation plan. If their demands are not met, another 400 interns are expected to quit.