Ei-iE

Since the financial crisis in 2008, trade unions have faced unprecedented challenges to maintain existing rights and to strengthen collective bargaining provisions. An important new study by Education International provides a valuable insight into the disturbing trends in freedom of association and collective bargaining in the education sector in many...

EI has strongly condemned the continued disproportionate violence perpetrated by Cambodian authorities against striking garment workers. Five workers have been killed, dozens injured and at least 39 arrested. The strike has been halted but demands for an increased minimum wage are maintained.

Kim Jeonghun, the president of EI affiliate Korean Teachers’ Union (KTU), has been released. Having been arrested illegally on 22 December 2013, Kim received widespread international support and the warrant for his detention was overruled by a judge, leading to his release on 25 December.

Education International has expressed grave concern at the escalating violence against legitimate trade union organisations in South Korea. Authorities have staged raids in the last few days, including against one of EI's affiliates in the country, the Korean Teachers' Union (KTU).

The Berlin branch of the Gewerkschaft Erziehung und Wissenschaft(GEW), one of EI’s national affiliates, organised a hugely successful industrial action on 4-5 December. More than 2,400 teachers and about 150 pupils participated in the strike, demanding improved living and working conditions for education staff.

The Kenya National Union of Teachers (KNUT) and the Kenya Union of Domestic, Hotels, Educational Institutions, Hospitals and Allied Workers (KUDHEIHA), two of EI’s national affiliates, have called on the Government to engage in honest social dialogue to ensure quality education in the country.

On this date, 10 December, Human Rights Day, EI pays tribute to educators around the world who fight for the right to live and work in dignity. These educators and their trade unions also fight for freedom of expression, assembly and association; the right to bargain collectively; and for all...

EI has sent a letter to Mahmoud Abbas, President of the Palestinian National Authority, urging his government to meet the demands of Palestinian teachers and education workers by fully implementing the 10 per cent salary increase agreed between the government and the General Union of Palestinian Teachers (GUPT) in September.

EI’s affiliate in Turkey, E?itim Sen, has condemned the police crackdown on teachers and demonstrators gathered in Ankara for a protest march demanding quality education on 23 November, on the eve of the national Teachers’ Day.

The President and General Secretary of Education International, Susan Hopgood and Fred van Leeuwen, have told the members of the Environment and Labour Committee of the National Assembly of Korea that the recent de-registration of the Korea Teachers’ and Education Workers’ Union (KTU), one of EI's affiliates in the country,...

Two unions in the UK, representing nine out of 10 teachers, have reaffirmed their commitment to a jointly coordinated campaign, Protect Teachers and Defend Education. This action by the UK’s two largest teachers’ unions, the National Union of Teachers (NUT) and National Association of Schoolmasters Union of Women Teachers (NASUWT),...

The University and College Union (UCU), one of EI’s national affiliates in the UK, has planned a coordinated strike action on 31 October with UNITE and UNISON to demand fair pay in higher education. Unions are disappointed that employers refused talks to try and avert a walkout, but said they...

On 24 October, the Korean Teachers and Education Workers Union (KTU) was officially deprived of its legal status by the South Korean Govenment. The union had been given a one-month ultimatum to revise its by-laws.

Spain’s education unions witnessed a successful general education strike on 24 October – the unions involved were EI’s affiliates, CCOO, FETE-UGT and STEs.

On 24 October, one of EI’s affiliates, the Korean Teachers and Education Workers Union (KTU), was officially deprived of legal status by the Park Geun-hye administration. KTU had been given a one-month ultimatum to revise the provision in its by-laws allowing union membership to dismissed and retired teachers. In a...

Because it allows dismissed and retired workers in its membership, the Korea Teacher Union (KTU), one of EI's members in Korea, is threatened with delegalisation. In a communication issued by the Minister of Employment and Labor, KTU was informed it has until 23 October 2013 to amend its by-laws. If...

EI has condemned the attack by the Islamist group, Boko Haram, which killed at least 40 students in Nigeria.

The National Association of Schoolmasters Union of Women Teachers (NASUWT) and the National Union of Teachers (NUT), two of EI’s national affiliates, have announced dates for regional rolling strike action in England as a further step in the dispute over pay, pensions, working conditions and jobs.