Ei-iE

A commitment to track down the sources and causes of child trafficking and child labour in Benin emerged from a teacher trade unionists seminar in Cotonou, Benin, from 9-11 May. EI organised the national trade union training and awareness-raising workshop under the theme, “The impact of quality public education for...

A group of developing countries is calling on the World Intellectual Property Office (WIPO) to step up efforts to fully implement the Development Agenda adopted in 2007.

Concerns over the secrecy and substance of the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement (TPP) negotiations prompted 32 leading American legal scholars to send a letter to the office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR) demanding transparency in the process.

The Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA) is facing a growing backlash in Europe. On 31 May, all three committees of the European Parliament advising the International Trade Committee recommended rejecting the deal.

A group of countries billing themselves as the “Really Good Friends of Services” have agreed to start negotiations on an ambitious new global free trade agreement covering all service sectors. Meeting in Geneva at the end of May, the group agreed in principle to begin talks on a new International...

The Government of New Zealand has backed down on a proposal to increase class sizes after a major campaign led by EI’s affiliate, the New Zealand Educational Institute Te Riu Roa (NZEI), which mobilised support from people across the whole country.

One of EI’s national affiliates, the Uganda National Teachers Union (UNATU) teachers has rejected a pay rise proposed by the Education Ministry in its budgetary proposal for the financial year 2012-13, as “inhuman and undermining teachers’ dignity.”The 15% salary increase promised to teachers is insignificant in the context of a...

The International Organisation of Employers (IOE) has impeded the discussion of some of the worst cases of workers’ rights violations at the annual International Labour Organisation (ILO) Conference, held in Geneva from 30 May-15 June.

The Union of Education Norway (UEN), one of EI national affiliate, has joined in a strike action in defence of quality public services, as well as decent salaries and working conditions for public sector workers.

The newly launched Education in Crisis website has been updated with a new blog post by Steven Klees, Professor of International and Comparative Education at the University of Maryland. Prof. Klees looks at the roots of the current economic crisis and how the neoliberal agenda led to an education crisis.

Delays in negotiating allowance categories for public sector workers in Ghana are adversely affecting the morale of teachers. That’s according to the National Association of Graduate Teachers (NAGRAT), an EI affiliate in Ghana. The National Executive of another EI affiliate, the Ghana National Association of Teachers (GNAT), has also expressed...

Education throughout the world is in crisis. In many countries the current economic crisis is having a devastating effect on education. Public funding for education is being cut severely, resulting in cutbacks in staffing, in salaries, in pensions and in support services.

Senen Niño Avendaño, President of the Federación Colombiana de Educadores (FECODE) and a member of the EI Executive Board, together with two other leaders of the Colombian teachers’ union, has been refused an entry visa to Switzerland where they were to participate in the Conference of the International Labour Organisation...

Hundreds of thousands of public workers participated in a nationwide public sector strike in Turkey on 23 May, according to EI national affiliate E?itim Sen.

General Secretary Fred van Leeuwen congratulated Guy Ryder on his election to a five-year term at the helm of the UN tripartite labour organisation.

Two of the UK’s biggest trade unions have launched an historic joint agreement committing the trade unions to work together to protect teachers and defend education. The two unions, both EI affiliates, are the National Union of Teachers (NUT) and the National Association of Schoolmasters Union of Women Teachers (NASUWT).

Education unionists and school leaders from around the world have called for stronger recognition of the school leadership function and its role in promoting quality education.

Common strategies to influence public policy to eradicate child labour must be articulated by education unions. This is essential for the promotion and defence of education as a fundamental right.