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.
Korean teacher unions are actively defending their members’ status in moves to ensure that teachers’ pensions are protected benefit and that legal assistance is on-hand to protect their rights.
Korea: Unions defend teachers on multiple fronts
Teacher unions from Zimbabwe and Niger answered Education International’s call to support the Global Action Day on the Right to Strike by organising and spearheading various activities that stressed the importance of taking labour action.
The right to strike worth fighting for in Zimbabwe and Niger
The excessive workloads and working hours facing teachers in the UK have been clearly established in figures published by the Trades Union Congress (TUC) to mark its annual Work Your Proper Hours Day.
UK: Survey highlights plight of teachers
The Global Campaign for Education has called on the South Korean authorities to respect the basic union rights of teachers in a powerful statement of solidarity delivered at its world assembly in Johannesburg, South Africa.
Education heavyweights line up to support the rights of Korean teachers
Leaders of the Bahrain Teachers’ Association have won the 2015 Arthur Svensson International Prize for trade union rights for their efforts to promote and strengthen trade unions and trade union rights in their country.
Harassed Bahraini teacher unionist awarded significant international Prize
Education International has called on its affiliates to raise their voices and mobilise for the Global Action Day for the Right to Strike, a right that is increasingly being challenged by employers and governments worldwide.
Educators ready to stand-up for their right to strike
Italian education unions have gone public to vent their opposition to the government’s vow of silence after calls to kick-start social dialogue on teachers’ employment conditions continue to go unanswered.
Italy: government sidesteps social dialogue on teachers
According to a new report by the United Nations, schools are far from being safe places for girls, who continue to be the main target of attacks in at least 70 countries.
Girls at center of attacks on education
A Kenyan school made global headlines on Monday when children, some as young as seven, protesting against the seizure of their playground by property developers, were tear-gassed by police.
Teachers’ strike highlights Kenya’s education challenges
When Nobel Peace Prize laureate Kailash Satyarthi handed over a petition against child slavery to UN General Secretary Ban Ki-Moon, he did so with the support of half-a-million signatures and the backing of Education International.
Anti-slavery petition sends clear message to UN Secretary General
The fight for decent living conditions and fair salaries are behind the closure of schools in Kenya following the walkout of the country’s public school teachers who are calling for an acceptable collective bargaining agreement.
What the teachers of Kenya are fighting for
The Danish Union of Teachers has secured significant endorsement for its actions in a recent ILO decision following a complaint made by the union last August about the government’s intervention in the collective bargaining process.
Denmark’s unions receive ILO support in lockout case
Over ten thousand trade union members, most of them public sector workers, along with youth groups and students, packed the streets of Kiev to rally against government cuts to social programmes.
Ukraine: trade unions give government cuts a resounding ‘thumbs down’
Education International and its global partners have launched the World’s Largest Lesson Plan, a project which invites the world’s teachers to educate and popularise the Post-2015 Sustainable Development Goals, to be launched in September.
Teachers called to create the World’s Largest Lesson
On the day marked to recognise the importance of human rights around the world, Malala Yousafzai and Kailash Satyarthi highlight education as an essential right, receiving the Nobel Peace Prize.
Nobel Peace Prize headlines Human Rights Day
Despite international pressure for a thorough investigation, and demonstrations that continue to sweep the country, the fate of the 43 students who disappeared two months ago in the state of Guerrero, Mexico, remains unclear.
Mexico: 60 days and still no answers surrounding missing students
The American Federation of Teachers (AFT) has banned Coca-Cola products from its facilities and events, citing Coca-Cola's child labour and human rights record.
USA: Teacher union objects to Coca-Cola in schools
Today marks the 25th Anniversary of the Convention on the Rights of the Child - a defining moment in history, when for the first time, all children around the world were viewed as human beings with their own set of rights, including the right to a quality education.
Universal children's day: a long way ahead