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.
Teachers from around the world have condemned reports from Harare which confirm that Zimbabwe’s teachers have been experiencing increased political threats and serious violent attacks since November 2010.
Teachers under fire in Zimbabwe
On 17 December 2010, a young vegetable seller named Mohamed Bouazizi burned himself alive in protest at police harassment in a small poverty-stricken town in Tunisia. Within a month the regime of President Ben Ali had fallen, sending shock waves across the entire Arab region.
Tunisia: the spark that set the Arab world ablaze
While teacher unions are determined to continue to voice demands for more freedom and rights in the region, EI keeps receiving worrying reports about attacks against teachers and unionists.
Teacher unions under attack in Bahrain and Yemen
Mr. Maina Kiai, chairman of the Kenya National Human Rights Commission (KNHRC), has been appointed by the Human Rights Council as Special UN Rapporteur on the rights to freedom of peaceful assembly and of association for a period of three years.
EI welcomes the appointment of the UN Special Rapporteur on the rights to association and assembly
A New Year’s pledge from hardline Republican Governor of Wisconsin, Scott Walker, to remove teachers’ collective bargaining rights, as well as their health benefits and pension entitlements, has brought thousands of pro-union demonstrators on to the streets in all 50 U.S. states in solidarity with the Wisconsin unions.
Collective action against mendacious attacksWhile teacher unions are determined to continue to voice demands for more freedom and rights in the region, EI keep receiving worrying reports about attacks against teachers and unionists.
Teacher unions attacked in Bahrain and Yemen
The EI Executive Board in Cape Town has condemned the murder of teacher Ilse Ivania Velásquez as a new low in an increasingly deteriorating situation in Honduras.
Honduras: EI Executive Board condemns workers’ repression
EI has condemned the suspension of higher education in Bahrain as the brutal repression of pro-democracy protesters demanding political reforms within the kingdom continues.
Bahrain: University students attacked as violence escalates
EI and its national affiliates, SADTU, NAPTO, and SAOU, are urging the Government of South African to sign up to the joint statement on ending violence and related human rights violations based on sexual orientation and gender identity.
South Africa: Government must endorse UN policy on human rights
Republicans in the Wisconsin state senate have approved a regressive plan to strip public-sector and teacher trade unions of most of their collective bargaining rights.
USA: Senators restrict public-sector and teacher unions' rights
Cyprus: Union urges Turkey to end political and economic pressure EI affiliate, the Cyprus Turkish Teachers’ Trade Union (KTOS), has joined other national unions to denounce the impact of AKP policies on education workers in the country.
Cyprus: teacher unions urge Turkey to end political and economic pressure
The threat from the hard-line Republican Governor of Wisconsin, Scott Walker to remove teachers’ collective bargaining rights, as well as health and pension benefits, has brought thousands of pro-union activists onto US streets.
EI combats attacks on teachers' union rights
More than 7,000 Pakistani teachers have called off their indefinite strike after the Prime Minister, Yousuf Raza Gilani, issued a special directive in relation to upgrading teachers’ conditions bringing uniformity to pay scales within the education system.
Pakistan: Striking teachers win negotiations for better conditions
The Greek Federation of Secondary Education School Teachers (OLME) and the Primary Education Teachers’ Federation (DOE) are protesting against austerity measures which are damaging education by holding a 48-hour strike.
Greece: Teacher unions join forces to fight neo-liberal policies
The speed of political and social change in the Middle East and North Africa has astounded the international community.
A season of change in the Arab world
Eminent academic Diane Ravitch has delivered a stinging rebuke of Wisconsin's Governor, Scott Walker, and his efforts to reduce pay of teachers and public sector workers, while restricting their collective bargaining and union rights.
Historian of education defends teachers’ right to organise
The World Bank has expressed its concerns about rising food prices and the subsequent impact on those in the poorest countries.
Rising food prices push 44 million more people into extreme poverty