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 will join workers from all other sectors across Australia today in the national day of protest against radical industrial relations reforms imposed by the government of Prime Minister John Howard.
Australia: Trade unions unite on national day of protest
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.
Good News in ETA's Long Legal Struggle
The president of the Botswana Teachers’ Union has been reinstated in his teaching post, after EI and BTU members protested his unfair dismissal.
Bostwana: unfair dismissal of trade union leader is reversed
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).
"Stop harassment of trade unions," EI tells the Zimbabwe goverment
The two members of EI affiliate the Ethiopian Teachers Association (ETA) detained since 23 September have been released on bail.
Ethiopia: arrested teachers released on bail
The global human rights group Amnesty International fears for the safety of two Ethiopian teachers detained "incommunicado".
Ethiopia: Amnesty worries over jailed teachers
EI have written to the President of Mexico, Vicente Fox Quesada, calling for him to intervene immediately in order to bring about peaceful negotiations between the government and striking teachers.
Mexico: Repression of striking teachers continues
Education International has written to its Greek affiliates the Greek Primary Teachers Federation (DOE) and Federation of Secondary Teachers of Greece (OLME) in support of their demands for adequate funding for quality education.
EI’s message of solidarity with the Teachers of Greece
Lebanese teachers’ unions estimate that 25 teachers were among the approximately 1,000 civilians killed in this summer’s attacks by Israeli forces. About 50 schools were completely destroyed and 500 more were severely damaged.
Lebanese teachers suffered heavy losses in summer of war
Two teachers were arrested and detained on 23 September for being members of the Ethiopian Teachers' Association (ETA). One of the teachers had already suffered severe injuries, at the hands of security officers, earlier this year.
Ethiopia: the persecution of unionised teachers continues
EI wrote to the President of Colombia, Alvaro Uribe, on 14 Sep to condemn the assassination of another three teachers in August this year. That makes a total of 22 teachers murdered in the country since the beginning of 2006.
Stop murdering teachers in Colombia!
EI strongly supports the candidacy of Professor Mesfin Wolde-Mariam on behalf of its affiliate, the Ethiopian Teachers’ Association (ETA), for the European Parliament's Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought.
EI supports the candidacy of Prof. Mesfin Wolde-Mariam for the Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought
In a strongly-worded letter to the President Robert G. Mugabe, EI demands that the Zimbabwean government respect the trade union right of all workers.
EI joins protest against anti-union repression in Zimbabwe
For the second time this year, security forces have disbanded a constitutional meeting of the Ethiopian Teachers' Association (ETA). EI, which represents education workers around the world, wrote to the Ethoipian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi telling his government to stop harassing the teacher union.
EI urges Ethiopian government to stop harassment of teacher union
As part of the Global Labour University network, EI would like to inform its members that the next academic year of Global Labour University is now open for applications. Two Master prgrammes on Labour and Globalisation for trade unionists are offered in 2007-2008 by the network, formed by the international...
International Master Programmes for Trade Unionists now open for Application
The General Union for Palestinian Teachers (GUPT), an EI affiliate, has announced that it will start an open-ended strike on 2 Sep, the first day of the school year, over unpaid wages.
Palestinian teachers to strike over unpaid wages
On November 9, 2005, Mrs. Mulunesh Abebayehu was arrested, without warning, at the junior secondary school where she teaches and taken to the notorious Kality Prison in Addis Ababa.
Ethiopian colleagues have the courage to keep union alive
For the second time this year, Ethiopian authorities have disrupted a General Assembly of the Ethiopian Teachers’ Association and forcibly shut it down.
Ethiopian authorities disrupt teachers’ General Assembly