All teachers and education support personnel have the right to organise and be part of a union that represents and defends their values and interests. However, around the world, education unions are facing serious attacks and operate in increasingly challenging and hostile environments. Revitalising unions, building their power by boosting membership and active participation and maximising impact is the way forward.
Education International has returned to the defence of embattled Colombian academic, Miguel Angel Beltran, issuing a letter calling for an end to false accusations and a politically motivated ban barring him from universities.
Colombia: EI throws support behind university professor amid false accusations
Teacher unions - their roles and challenges – along with the activites of Education International were at the core of recent trade union workshops in Tajikistan.
Tajikistan: EI workshops contribute to building a strong union
The grandson of Estela de Carlotto, founder and head of Abuelas de Plaza de Mayo (Grandmothers of May Square) and recipient of the 2004 Human and Trade Union Rights Award of Education International, has been found.
Argentina: Human rights crusader’s grandson foundThe grandson of Estela de Carlotto, founder and head of Abuelas de Plaza de Mayo (Grandmothers of May Square), Argentina, and recipient of the 2004 Human and Trade Union Rights Award of Education International, has been found.
Argentina: human rights crusader’s grandson found
On the occasion of the Day of Solidarity and Mobilisation, Senegalese teacher unions, united under the umbrella of the General Association of Teacher Unions (Grand cadre des syndicats de l'enseignement-GCSE), have called for the release of the girls abducted by Boko Haram.The Syndicat des professeurs du Sénégal (SYPROS), a national...
Senegal: Unions support kidnapped Nigerian girls
Cameroon's teacher unions have condemned sanctions imposed by public authorities in Cameroon which threaten the exercise of their trade union rights by workers.
Cameroon: Trade union rights being attacked
Teachers in Benue State in Nigeria have finally gone back to work after an eight-month strike in the struggle for payment of the minimum wage. And now teachers in the Kogi State are on strike, as some have not been paid at all for four months.
Nigeria: Teachers fighting for security and minimum wage
"To date more than 40 Gaza children have been killed in Israeli airstrikes. With the recent murder of three Israeli teenagers and the killing of a Palestinian teenager, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is becoming a war on children."
Ceasefire call in Gaza must be respected
On 11 July 2014, a judicial decision by the Appeals Court in Tbilisi has finally resolved the legal battle over the legitimacy of the election of Maia Kobakhidze, President of the Educators and Scientists Free Trade Union of Georgia (ESFTUG).
Legal dispute in Georgia over ESFTUG election results ended after four years
Teachers across the UK are set to strike tomorrow in protest of the government’s education policies, which they argue ignore both the in-classroom and financial burdens facing today’s educators.
UK: Teachers to strike as government ignores demands for decent work and living conditions
Raising their voices to be heard loud and clear, thousands of teachers demonstrated in front of government offices to put an end to five years of salary freezes in the education sector.
Lithuania: ETUCE strikes deal with Prime Minister
Negotiations at the International Labour Conference in Geneva have ended in an abrupt deadlock after the Employers’ Group targeted the right to strike, arguing that it is not guaranteed by any International Labour Organisation convention.
Employers attack workers’ right to strike
A Korean court has again turned its back on the International Labour Organization's recommendations in its decision to remove the legal status of one of the country’s teachers’ unions.
Korea: Education union loses lawsuit to reverse delegalisation
Teachers’ union reaches out to Education International for support amid ongoing government measures to remove educators from the classroom and the civil service list, including the union’s general secretary and other high-level members.
Djibouti: Government repression of teachers continues to worsen
In an address to the 103rd International Labour Conference General Assembly in Geneva on 4 June, EI Deputy General Secretary, Haldis Holst, asked the delegates to support the Unite for Quality Education campaign and underlined the importance of the joint work between EI and the different sections of the International...
EI defends educators’ rights at International Labour Conference
The Ghana National Association of Teachers (GNAT), one of EI’s national affiliates, has organised a meeting to demand the release of the kidnapped Nigerian girls and to support the girls’ right to education.
Ghana: Education unionists’ solidarity with abducted Nigerian school girls
Collective bargaining and the right to strike have become contested issues at the International Labour Conference over the last few years. At this year’s conference, from 28 May to 12 June, trade unions from all over the world are working together to defend what they see as fundamental workers’ rights.
International Labour Conference: A lot at stake for trade unionism
Teachers under siege in British Columbia have found a supportive union ally in their fight against aggressive government tactics as an imposed lockout disrupts classrooms across the province.
The Canadian Teachers’ Federation stands up for locked out BC teachers