All teachers and education support personnel have the right to organise and be part of a union that represents and defends their values and interests. However, around the world, education unions are facing serious attacks and operate in increasingly challenging and hostile environments. Revitalising unions, building their power by boosting membership and active participation and maximising impact is the way forward.
In June 2019, the ILO adopted Convention 190 concerning the elimination of violence and harassment in the world of work. Unions have long called for an instrument of this nature. We welcome the adoption of this Convention.
“What about Convention No. 190 in Tunisia? Eliminating Violence and Harassment in the World of Work”, by Emna Aouadi.
Renewed death threats against education union leaders in Colombia have prompted a global support and solidarity campaign in protest against the continued repression and deaths, which now number more than 6,000.
Colombia: Campaign Launched to Combat Death Threats Against Trade Unionists
The 56th meeting of the Education International’s Executive Board, meeting virtually on 27 October, adopted a resolution in support of teaching about freedom of expression, free discussion, and critical thinking, all of which equip students to be active citizens. The resolution was adopted following the atrocious murder of French history...
Executive Board adopts resolution on the role of education in stimulating critical thinking and freedom of expression and promoting democracy
Education International condemns the banning of a Jordanian Teachers’ Association (JTA) public press conference scheduled for 26 October. The ban was imposed by Jordan’s authorities, with security forces delivering an order from the Governor of Amman to prohibit the union’s press conference. The JTA press conference was called to discuss...
Jordan: Banned union press conference the latest crackdown by government on teachers’ rights
An extraordinary session of the UNESCO Global Education Meeting (GEM) took place today, 22 October. It was preceded by a technical meeting on the 20th devoted to policy preparation. The meeting focused on global priorities for recovery in education and accelerated action in order to make progress on achieving SDG...
Extraordinary Global Education Meeting reaffirms commitments to SDG 4 and calls for accelerated funding and global solidarity
Members of the Education and Solidarity Network (ESN), including healthcare mutuals, enterprises operating in the social and solidarity economy (SSE), teaching unions and other civil society organisations have found themselves at the centre of the health and education crisis and have been the first to respond to it on the...
“Education, health and solidarity: pandemic memories", by Matthias Savignac.
Unions and governments have been in conflict since the dawn of time. The mere existence of unions as a force to defend workers’ rights where governments fail to do so in and of itself leads to this conflictual relationship. In Africa, unions have rarely been consulted during the COVID-19 crisis...
“Africa: Collaboration between Unions and Governments for a Better Future in Education”, by Cherine Sabry.
A National Teachers’ Association (NTA) survey in Taiwan has revealed that 92 per cent of secondary school teachers suffered from work overload, requiring government support.
Taiwan: Nine out of 10 teachers overworked implementing new curriculum
The Zimbabwe Teachers’ Association (ZIMTA) and the Progressive Teachers' Union of Zimbabwe (PTUZ) find themselves in confrontation with the government over teachers’ salaries and ‘incapacitation’, as teachers remain out of the classroom. They have urged the Government to improve its financial offer to teachers in order to get them to...
Zimbabwe: Government must pay teachers decent salaries for them to resume work
In gatherings all over France, tribute was paid to Samuel Paty, 47, a history, and geography teacher who was the victim of a terrorist attack near his school, Conflans-Sainte-Honorine in the Paris suburbs. Paty was decapitated following an Internet campaign against the use in his class of a caricature of...
France: French unions lead mourning of assassinated teacher Samuel Paty
Education is taking a step backwards in Germany, according to Education International’s affiliates, the Gewerkschaft Erziehung und Wissenschaft (GEW) and the Verband Bildung und Erziehung (VBE). The unions were reacting to resolutions agreed by the Standing Conference of the Ministers of Education and Cultural Affairs (KMK, German acronym).
Germany: Education unions critical of KMK’s backward steps and patchwork approach
The National Teachers’ Association (NTA) in Taiwan publicly denounced the Kang Hsuan Educational Publishing Group (KH Group) for its unlawful practices concerning public health as well as labour issues. The KH Group is one of the largest private educational corporations in Taiwan.
Taiwan: Education union’s pressure prompts a private educational provider to apologise for harassment
It’s International Coming Out Day! In celebration, the Council of Global Unions is releasing our LGBTI website to share the work of Global Unions promoting LGBTI rights at work at national, regional and international levels.
Statement | International Coming Out Day
A teacher union operating in the private sector has decided to take a series of actions to ensure decent working and living conditions for teachers and also to strengthen its capacities and ensure that teachers’ voices are really heard by the public authorities.
Cameroon: Union development during and after the COVID-19 pandemic
Education International and its member organisations are monitoring the situation for teacher trade unionists fighting for free, quality public education for all in Haiti. In particular, they are putting pressure on the government to respect the human and trade union rights of educators
Haiti: Solidarity of the global teacher trade union movement against government harassment of educators
Teachers in France, like in many countries, are simultaneously leading a social movement and facing the prospect of a lowering of their professional status, which would become more acute as a result of the pension reform undertaken by the French government in 2019. But their ‘uber-militancy’ (the use of strikes...
“The Movement Against Pension Reform in France: Paradoxes of Teacher Militancy” by Laurent Frajerman.
The 10,000 home daycare workers affiliated to the Centrale des syndicats du Québec (CSQ) began an indefinite general strike on 21 September. They have been holding rotating strikes in the regions of Quebec since 1 September and this increases the pressure.
Canada: The Federation of Childcare Workers of Quebec calls an indefinite general strike
Education International has joined other Global Unions in a webinar backing Filipino workers and trade unionists who fight to defend from governmental siege rights and democracy. The discussion was organised by the Council of Global Unions (CGU). The CGU groups Global Union Federations like EI with the International Trade Union...
Philippines: International solidarity with workers and unionists facing tyranny