European Trade Union Committee for Education

The 2016 ETUCE statutory conference takes place next week, from 6-8 December in Belgrade, Serbia. Teachers and other education personnel face different challenges, such as technological development, increasing pressure from the labour market and growing inequalities. Moreover, teachers are key to integrating refugees and migrants in education and employment. On these grounds, the Conference is called “Empowering Education Trade Unions: The Key to Promoting Quality Education”. The role of education trade unions in those developments will be addressed. EI/ETUCE and its member organisations are key contributors to the development of the teaching profession and high quality education in Europe.

One of the key resolutions that are to be adopted during the Conference, seeks to address the challenges and proposes possible solutions to reinforce education trade unions and social dialogue. The debate on the resolution Empowering Education Trade Unions: The Key to Promoting Quality Education is to be launched on Tuesday, 06 December, the first day of the Conference session. The resolution emphasises EI/ETUCE’s member organisations’ engagement in:

• fighting for adequate working conditions, payments and pensions for an attractive and valued teaching profession through collective bargaining and a strong role in political decision making;
• advocating for appropriate and sustainable investment in education, in order to ensure high quality education, well equipped schools, decent class sizes and professional development of teachers;
• promoting diversity and equality through the right to membership and support for all education personnel, regardless of their socio-economic background, gender, age, belief or religion, and through women leaders and young union leaders in union leadership and decision-making positions;
• supporting cooperation and solidarity among education trade unions and contributing to EI/ETUCE’s achievement;
• developing strategies for capacity building of education trade unions and increasing membership.

View the Conference website here.