Europe
Europe
EFFECT 4th Consortium meeting in Belgium
The fourth Consortium meeting of the European Forum for Enhanced Collaboration in Teaching (EFFECT) took place on 5-6 December, 2016, in Brussels. Topics covered included teaching methods, research-led teaching, a database on teaching and learning resources, engaging external experts, and building a learning and teaching community. The Forum facilitates exchange of experience in staff development of university teachers and will assess the feasibility of a European-level structure to support the enhancement of university teaching.
Louise Hoj Larsen attended the event for EI.
OECD International Seminar on opening higher education in Germany
The seminar on opening higher education, which took place on 8-9 December, 2016, in Berlin, was jointly organised by the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) Centre for Educational Research and Innovation and the Laureate International Universities. Different manifestations of open forms of higher education delivery as well as its implications, effects, benefits, risks and possible responses were discussed. EI presented on the issue of open educational resources and open access.
Louise Hoj Larsen attended the event for EI.
ETUCE support to the opening of negotiations on teacher’s salaries in Moldova
On 17 January, the Education and Science Trade Union of Moldova (ESTUFM), supported by the European Trade Union Committee for Education (ETUCE), were successful in urging the Moldovan Government to negotiate on ESTUFM’s demands. Demonstrators at a picket in Chisinau had demanded that the Moldovan Government address their working conditions, increase the salaries of scientific researchers and other non-teaching staff at all education levels to the national minimum wage, and raise school and university teachers’ salaries by 50 per cent. Protests were suspended by the ESTUFM given the success of the Chisinau action.
EIGE project on “Gender-related challenges in European education systems”
The ETUCE was represented at three joint consultation meetings for the European Institute for Gender Equality (EIGE) project, “Gender-related challenges in European education systems”, which were held in Amsterdam, The Netherlands, on 17 January, in Vienna, Austria, on 19 January, and in Vilnius, Lithuania on 26 January. Attendees were updates on the legislative backgrounds and challenges to gender equality in education in different countries. The project aims to inform policy makers of these challenges and highlight the importance of a gender perspective in European education systems.
The ETUCE European Director, Susan Flocken, attended the events.
Global Response Network meeting in Belgium
The first meeting of the Global Response Network took place from 19-20 January in Brussels, Belgium. Representatives from 41 EI affiliates reflected on the achievements of the Global Response campaign to date. They also identified strategies and actions to further pursue policy objectives and heard presentations from academics/researchers Susan Robertson, Antoni Verger, and Curtis Riep.
Education World Forum in the UK
On 24 January, the National Union of Teachers (NUT) and the University and College Union were joined by EI and Action Aid in London to protest the Education World Forum’s decision to accept sponsorship from Bridge International Academies (BIA), one of the world’s largest for-profit education companies. This year’s Forum focused on the privatisation of education and named BIA as its ‘Gold Partner’, additional reasons for concern for education unions and civil society organisations. Read more here.
European Pillar of Social Rights in Belgium
On 23 January, the high-level Conference on the European Pillar of Social Rights was organised by the European Commission in Brussels. Around 50 national trade union leaders and European Trade Union Federations joined the European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC) delegation. ETUC advocated for the inclusion of trade union priorities, with concrete propositions such as tackling Europe’s employment challenge, developing workplace democracy via collective bargaining and social dialogue, or measures to ensure the enforceability of social rights.
The ETUCE European Director, Susan Flocken, attended this event.
ESSDE Steering Group meeting in Belgium
The ETUCE President, Christine Blower, chaired the meeting of the Steering Group of the European Sectoral Social Dialogue in Education (ESSDE) in Brussels on 24 January to review work undertaken in 2016 and to plan for 2017. It devised strategies to implement and boost the visibility of ESSDE. The Steering Group also devised ways to follow up on the recent ESSDE statements and practical guidelines on Promoting the potentials of the European Social Dialogue in Education and Preventing and combating psychosocial hazards in the education sector. Plans for 2017 include cooperation with the DG Education and Culture on the new European strategy for 2030 and the European Semester.
The ETUCE European Director, Susan Flocken, and Paola Cammilli of ETUCE/the European region of EI attended this event.
Liaison Forum Meeting of the European social partners in Belgium
On 26 January, the Liaison Forum Meeting of the European social partners was organised by the European Commission in Brussels. Updating social partners about recent developments in the social dialogue agenda, it focused on the role of social partners in integrating migrants and refugees in the labour market, on the European Pillar of Social Rights, and on new initiatives in occupational health and safety. The event was attended by sectoral social partners from different committees and representatives from the concerned European Commission’s Directorates-General.
Paola Cammilli of ETUCE/the European region of EI attended this event.
ETUC Economic Committee
On 2 February, ETUCE attended the ETUC Economic Committee meeting, which focused on the ETUC proposal on the establishment of a “European Treasury” to foster convergence and tackle imbalances across Europe as well as to boost public investment. ETUCE called for dialogue on how to allow public investment in education, in line with its long-standing demand for a revision of the European Growth and Stability Pact’s rules. Furthermore, the implementation of the national productivity boards and the EU yearly macroeconomic dialogue at political level was critically discussed.
Paola Cammilli of ETUCE/the European region of EI attended this event.
Open hearing on the 10 October 2015 bomb attacks in Turkey
From 6-7 February, the second open hearing on the 10 October 2015 bomb attacks took place in Ankara. Suicide bombings amidst the “Labour, Democracy and Freedom” rally caused 101 deaths and left more than 500 people injured. Among the victims were many trade unionists - seven active members of E?itim-Sen died in the attack.The hearing gathered approximately 400 people, including representatives from E?itim-Sen and other ETUCE member organisations, including the German Gewerkschaft Erziehung und Wissenschaft. The hearing was postponed to allow for the collection of more evidence and the evaluation of testimonies from survivors and victims’ relatives. The hearing is to resume in early May.
The adoption of a new emergency decree results in a new wave of dismissals in Turkey
On 8 February, E?itim-Sen reported that the adoption of emergency decree No. 686 by the Turkish authorities a day earlier resulted in the unjustified dismissal of 2,585 Ministry of Education employees. E?itim-Sen General Secretary Mesut Firat and several E?itim-Sen administrative officers were amongst those dismissed. Reaffirming its solidarity with E?itim-Sen, its affiliates and the Turkish education community, EI/ETUCE organised a new mission to Ankara from 27-28 February to gain direct insight into the impact of the emergency measures on Turkish education personnel.
Launch of European Social Partnership’s project in Belgium
The launch meeting of the “European Sectoral Social Partners in Education striving for sustainable influence on European education policy building through successful social dialogue” project took place in Brussels on 14 February. ETUCE and the European Federation of Education Employers (EFEE), together with representatives from ETUCE member organisations in Denmark (Danish Union of Teachers), Finland ( Opetusalan Ammattijärjestö), Ireland (Irish Federation of University Teachers), Italy (UIL Scuola), Luxembourg (Syndicat National des Enseignants), Malta (Malta Union of Teachers), Netherlands ( Algemene Onderwijsbond) and Portugal ( Federação Nacional da Educação), partners to the project, to set up the framework and work schedule for this social dialogue capacity building project. The meeting launched a series of national and European education social partners’ roundtables, and a final conference will be held between May 2017 and June 2018.
Paola Cammilli of ETUCE/the European region of EI attended this event.
European digitalisation event in Germany
On 14 February, a joint fact-finding seminar on digitalisation in the economy and society was held in Berlin. It highlighted the good practice of collaboration with social partners when assessing the advantages and risks of digitalisation.
ETUCE European Director Susan Flocken attended this event.
Launch of the ETUC’S Pay Rise campaign in Belgium
From 14_15 February, the “Europe needs a pay rise. It’s time for our recovery!” conference was organised by the ETUC in Brussels. It launcheda European-wide pay rise campaign to be led by the ETUC. Social partners and national and European-level decision-makers identified wage increases and full restoration of collective bargaining across Europe as drivers of growth and economic recovery.
Paola Cammilli of ETUCE/the European region of EI attended this event.
ETUC Health and Safety Committee meeting in Belgium
On 15 February, the ETUC Health and Safety Committee met in Brussels to discuss a draft resolution in response to the European Commission’s communication on themodernisation of the EU occupational health and safety legislation. Members were also updated on the European Pillar of Social Rights and the work in the occupational health and safety area.
Marthe Stamer attended this event for EI/ETUCE.
Trade Union Forum on Digitalisation and the Future of Work in France
The Trade Union Advisory Committee (TUAC) to the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) Digitalisation Forum gathered unions from around the world in Paris, from 15-16 February. While the OECD has put a lot of emphasis on this topic, its relevance to unions, workers and education is significant. Unions must deal with this through improved collaboration and by insisting on involvement in organising access to learning, and insist that qualified teachers and not online courses are provided to do it.
Martin Henry attended the event for EI.
New European projects on teachers’ professional development, migration, and EU funds
In January, ETUCE launched the “Education Trade Unions for the Teaching Profession: Strengthening the capacity of education trade unions to represent teachers’ professional needs in social dialogue” project. This project is in response to challenges in relation to changes in employment and work, and aims to enhance teachers’ professional issues as a crucial matter of social dialogue in the education sector.
ETUCE is also a partner in two ETUC projects: “Employee training in social dialogue” and “Labour-INT: labour market integration of migrants. A Multi-Stakeholder Approach”.The former project focuses on improving provision or and access to professional development training for employees, including teachers. The latter project focuses on supporting the recognition of adult migrants and refugees’ skills to facilitate their integration into education and the labour market.
The second stage of the “Improving social partners’ involvement in EU support for public investments in training and education”, has also commenced. This focuseson the access of national social partner organisations to EU funds for the education and training of young people and adults. The ETUCE and the employer organisations are partners in this ETUC-led project. Agnes Roman of ETUCE/the European region of EI monitors this project.
