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Freedom of association and the right to strike remain contested issues at the International Labour Conference, where EI is making the case for better working conditions for all workers and increased social dialogue worldwide.

Education International (EI), represented by Deputy General Secretary Haldis Holst and other trade unions present at the yearly International Labour Conference in Geneva, is pushing hard for the International Labour Organisation (ILO) to promote education as a decent work strategy and to integrate more formally all the components of ILO’s education-related work.

Speech by Deputy General Secretary Haldis Holst

Education International is the global union federation for more than 30 million teachers, academics, researchers and education support personnel.

As a federation for 400 professional associations and unions, EI defends both the provision of quality education worldwide and advocates for better working conditions for education personnel through institutionalized social dialogue.

Education unions voiced it last month at the World Education Forum (WEF) in Korea:education is a "decent work" strategy. Education is part of the solution to fight poverty, inequality and child labour. Better learning opportunities are the gate to dignity, inclusion, decent employment, workers’rights and social protection. Teachers and education are keys to the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals.

Quality education does not just happen. Quality education requires qualified, well trained and well supported professionals. Teachers must be valued by society. Their professional autonomy must be respected and they should be listened to.

As part of an assessment of the Education for All , or EFA process, EI interviewed more than 14.000 teachers in 129 countries. Only 10 percent of them consider that they have been consulted on educational reforms. It is disappointing when professional knowledge and experience is not valued. And it is disappointing when social dialogue is not seen as a valuable strategy for progress and change.

In April, EI submitted a report to the ILO-UNESCO Committee of Experts on the Application of the Recommendation concerning Teachers, the CEART. The report talks about de-professionalization, about insecure jobs in the education sector with various forms of fixed and temporary contracts. The report also deplores the curtailing of the role of teachers’unions, excluding them from real input on teacher and learning issues. Education unions worldwide experience limitations in the scope of bargaining. It may seem quick, efficient and less problematic to bypass the unions.

However, reality proves that without a consistent engagement of unions in education policy, future strategies and investments - reforms are bound to fail. Implementation of change is dependent on understanding and relevance for those involved. Inclusion works, exclusion doesn’t.

Government representatives: your country must continue to invest in quality public education, in vocational training, in early childhood education, in higher education and research, and, of course, in quality teacher training - and in your teachers. And you must listen to the voice of teachers.

Education International values its relationship with the ILO. EI will continue to work with NORM on defending freedom of association and collective bargaining for public servants; with ILO PROTECT and ILO GENDER to promote education rights and social protection for disadvantaged groups. EI will continue to support ILO IPEC on the eradication of child labour through the right to education. EI will continue to reflect with SKILLS to prepare tomorrow’s workforce. And EI will work with SECTOR and ACTRAV to integrate more formally all the components of ILO’s education-related work.

In his opening speech, the Director General said that “the issues of jobs, equity, sustainability of human security, labour mobility, social dialogue and much more that need to be tackled in a future of work initiative are almost by definition the key policy issues of our time. I agree, and I would specifically like to highlight that labour mobility is also about the protection of migrant workers and ensuring equity, respect and social protection."

At the core of all of this lies education. As a human right - and as a decent work strategy in itself.

You can listen to the speech on Radio Labour by clicking here