Ei-iE

The Japanese government wants “schools to preserve traditional values of family and nation”. This is the main objective of a bill to revise the 1947 Fundamental Law on Education which the Lower House of Japan adopted on 16 November.

Teachers everywhere are concerned about the enormous problem of violence against women and girls, a violation of human rights that takes place on a vast scale worldwide.

EI recently attended an Expert Meeting on Universal Access to Services organised by the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) from 14-16 November in Geneva.

EI is very pleased to report news today from Ethiopia Teachers’ Association General Secretary Gemoraw Kassa that the registrar’s office of the Federal Supreme Court has informed the ETA that the verdict delivered by the Supreme Court on November 20 is in favour of the authentic ETA.

"Teachers should be guaranteed a safe and secure working environment," says EI in a letter addressed to the President of Iraq, Jalal Talabani, on 16 November. Since February this year, 180 teachers have been killed and up to 100 have been kidnapped.

Heads of both main Global Unions representing public employees, Education International and Public Services International, will meet on 21 November in Brussels, Belgium to discuss their co-operation and common agenda.

Already the largest of the global union federations, Education International continues to grow stronger. EI now comprises 384 member unions in 169 countries and territories. Together, they represent more than 30 million teachers and education workers across the world!

The Annual Development Cooperation meeting took place in Brussels, Belgium, on 9 and 10 November.

The president of the Botswana Teachers’ Union has been reinstated in his teaching post, after EI and BTU members protested his unfair dismissal.

Education International welcomes the creation of the new global trade union centre, the ITUC (International Trade Union Confederation). The unification of the ICFTU and WCL with eight trade union centres previously affiliated to neither is a historic step by unions to meet future challenges.

EI issued a message to the Zimbabwean president Robert Mugabe on 13 October, urging his government to stop harassing trade union leaders and members. EI was refering to the police intervention of World Teachers' Day celebration on 6 October by the Progressive Teachers' Union of Zimbabwe (PTUZ).

Below is the speech made by EI General Secretary and Chair of the Conference of the Global Union Federations at the founding congress of the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC) currently being held in Vienna, Austria.

The EI Pan-European Committee and the ETUCE Executive Board are meeting in Brussels, Belgium from 30-31 October. An item featured high on the list of the agenda of this meeting is the forthcoming EI Pan-European Conference to be held in Luxemburg from 4-6 December.

Below is the speech made by EI General Secretary and Chair of the Conference of the Global Union Federations at the 19th Congress of the International Confederation of Free Trade Unions (ICFTU) which is currently being held in Vienna, Austria.

Following the dissolution of the World Confederation of Labour (WCL) and the International Confederation of Free Trade Unions (ICFTU) on 31 October, a new trade union international, the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC) will be born on 1 November in Vienna, Austria!

The EI Executive Board met in Brussels, Belgium, from 25-27 October and several decisions regarding the various working areas and policies of the organisation as well as the forthcoming 2007 World Congress were made.

EI is glad that the struggles of teachers in Honduras since August are finally producing positive results. In the recent negotiations with the government, the teachers have managed to obtain the latter's agreement to implement most of the 17 points listed in the Statute on Teaching Personnel.

In this issue, EI explains how the continuing deadlock of the Doha Round of WTO talks is prompting the shift in focus to bilateral and regional agreements, and warns of the potential impact this might have on education services.