Ei-iE

Members of the World Trade Organisation (WTO) have formally appointed Brazil’s Roberto Carvalho de Azevêdo as the group’s next director general, capping a six-month leadership contest.

A group of 14 cultural ministers of the European Union are demanding that audio-visual services be excluded as a “cultural exemption” from planned free trade talks with the United States.

EI held the second meeting of its Arab Women Network (AWN) from 29-30 June in Beirut, Lebanon. This meeting aimed at following up on the discussions that started at last’s year inaugural meeting, where the AWN will build on the information shared and plan for future steps.

The Syndicat national des enseignements de second degré (SNES-FSU) and the Syndicat des enseignants (SE-UNSA) affiliated to the Union nationale des syndicats autonomes-Education (UNSA-Education) welcomed Education Minister Vincent Peillon’s announcement that 10,000 additional staff are to be taken on “specifically for secondary schools” under subsidised contracts on top of the...

The 21st Congress of the Teachers’ Association of the Republic of Indonesia (PGRI), EI’s largest national affiliate, has called on the government to invest in teachers and education, and improve teacher's living conditions by giving them decent salaries.

EI’s largest affiliate, the National Education Association (NEA) in the United States has announced an initiative, the NEA Master Teacher Project, to fund the redesign and expansion of BetterLesson's site and pay 95 math and English language arts teachers selected by an intense vetting process $15,000 to record and share...

On 28 June, the Australian Education Union (AEU), EI’s largest Australian affiliate, called on all political leaders to act in a spirit of bipartisanship and finalise agreements on the implementation of the Gonski Report on investment in education within the next two weeks.

The UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has launched the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) Report 2013 in Geneva, Switzerland. This report features a collection of key MDG statistics for each Goal and analysis to be utilised across the UN system in the lead-up to the September special event on MDGs.

The Canadian Teachers’ Federation (CTF), one of EI’s national affiliates, has welcomed the fact that the Conservative-dominated Senate has blocked Bill C-377. This Bill aimed to force unions to disclose all payments worth C$5,000 or more being made to outside groups or individuals. It also sought to force unions to...

EI has sent out a call for action to its affiliates, requesting them to take action for women’s rights and girls’ education.

The NASUWT and the NUT, two of EI’s national affiliates in the UK, are taking joint action as part of their campaign to protect teachers and education. The educators’ unions are in dispute with the Government over teachers’ pay, pensions and working conditions. Tens of thousands of teachers in the...

The US Supreme Court’s recent decision on same-sex couple legal protections that dramatically advance equality and human rights has been welcomed by the Presidents of both of EI’s affiliates in the US: the National Education Association (NEA) and the American Federation of Teachers (AFT).

During its recent Congress, the Gewerkschaft Erziehung and Wissenschaft (GEW) has reaffirmed its commitment to the right to unrestricted and free access to quality education for everyone as a basic human right, to the UN Millennium Development Goals and to EI’s resolutions on education and on the elimination of child...

EI has called on the member states of the World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO) to conclude a new treaty allowing those with visual disabilities to have better access to print materials.

EI supports the trade union message for World Public Services Day (23 June): “Putting world leaders on notice – members of civil society are uniting for tax justice everywhere”.

EI deplores the reductions in governments’ expenditure on education and cuts in teachers’ salaries and increases in their working time which are reflected in the latest OECD statistics published today.

The annual meeting of the EI regional coordinators with head office staff, which was held last week in Brussels, was dominated by the new Mobilising for Quality Education initiative. All of those present received a detailed briefing on the aims and objectives of the initiative and on the plans for...

Since June 12, Brazil has seen numerous protests, mostly organised by young people, which began after the announcement of an increase in the price of public transportation in cities across the country. However, the scope of the demonstrations shows that public transportation is just one of the protesters’ concerns.