Ei-iE

On 21 October, 220,000 people participated in a nation-wide demonstration in Germany for more social justice. About 80,000 people gathered at the Brandenburg Gates in Berlin and 20,000 at the Römerberg in Frankfurt am Main to protest against the socially-divisive "Reform politics" of the federal government led by Chancellor Angela Merkel.

Thousands of education workers represented by EI affiliate the Gewerkschaft Erziehung und Wissenschaft (GEW) took part in the demonstration under the slogan "Things should go better... for everyone".

Right now, the German education system and the status of education workers are indicative of the socially unjust politics in the country, commented GEW chairman Ulrich Thöne.

"The doctor's daughter goes to one type of school and the worker's son goes to another," he said.

Talking about the dire need to invest more in education, Thöne reminded the federal government that "in no other country do education workers have as low a social status as in Germany. Nowhere are educators as badly paid and trained as in Germany!"

For more information about the demonstration, please visit GEW's website: www.gew.de