Ei-iE

Education International (EI) stands in full solidarity with its member organisation, Federazione Lavoratori della Conoscenza (FLC CGIL), as it leads a national strike on 31 October 2024 to demand fair pay and job security. The strike comes in response to the Giorgia Meloni government's austerity measures, which have frozen wages, slashed research funding, and left thousands of education staff on precarious, short-term contracts.

EI’s General Secretary, David Edwards, expressed strong support for the strike, connecting it to the global call for fully funded public education systems and the protection of education workers’ rights: "The UN High-Level Panel recommendations are clear—governments must fully fund public education and invest in the teaching profession. This strike is not just about wages, it’s about defending the future of public education in Italy. Education workers are standing up for dignity, fair pay, and job security. Their voices must be heard, and their demands must be met.”

Key issues behind the strike

The mobilisation focuses on several urgent issues:

• Low wages: Italian teachers, researchers, and administrative staff earn some of the lowest salaries in Europe. Data also shows that Italian teacher salaries are about 20 percent lower than the OECD average.
• Casualisation: With a quarter of the workforce on temporary contracts, job insecurity is a major concern. The casualisation of education workers threatens the quality and stability of the entire sector.
• Austerity measures: The government's proposed budget includes austerity measures that threaten to further cut research salaries and destabilise funding for public services.
• Regionalisation of education: There are significant concerns about the government’s plans to regionalise the public education system, which could exacerbate inequalities by decentralising control over public education funding. This shift may lead to an uneven distribution of resources, with wealthier regions able to invest more in public schools, while poorer regions struggle to maintain basic services. Such a system risks deepening existing social and economic divides, undermining equal access to education and reinforcing marginalization in less advantaged areas.

Going public for a stronger public education

Against this backdrop, FLC CGIL is calling for greater government investment in public education to guarantee stable and decent working conditions for teachers and education staff. Central to their demands is a monthly pay increase of €400, significantly higher than the government's offer of just €135 spread over two years. The union is also advocating for the stabilisation of temporary workers through long-term contracts and increased public investment to protect the sector. Additionally, FLC CGIL strongly opposes the government's plan to regionalise education, warning that it could deepen inequalities and heighten social exclusion.

At the heart of these demands is the need to respect social dialogue and the collective bargaining system, ensuring education workers have a voice in shaping the future of public education.

EI has issued a solidarity statement in support of FLC-CGIL’s strike, emphasising that the union’s struggle for decent pay and secure work is shared by educators globally. EI’s solidarity message calls for governments to act on the UN’s recommendations and support the teaching profession by ensuring fair and professional salaries, ending the use of contract teachers, and including teacher unions in policy decisions.

The FLC CGIL's strike has also received widespread solidarity from EI member organisations worldwide, as it stands not only against austerity and precarious work but also for dignified working conditions for teachers and a stronger public education system in Italy.