European Trade Union Committee for Education

Tomorrow, 18 February 2015, in Europe and across the world, teacher trade unions affiliated to EI/ETUCE will join in the International day of action in defence of the right to strike, under attack on many European fronts. The Global Action Day for the Right to Strike is an initiative of the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC) and the Workers' Group at the International Labour Organisation (ILO). This appeal was made necessary in response to the many attempts of the Employers Group at the ILO to limit the right to strike.

'ETUCE joins hands with EI, ITUC and its national affiliates to mobilise with a view to demand national governments to halt the employers' attempts to limit the right to strike. The right to strike is a fundamental human right and lays the foundation for a democratic European society. Governments across Europe also have the duty to refrain from any further attempt to criminalise industrial actions. Teachers' and education employees' industrial actions are not only meant to defend their employment and working conditions in times of undeniable deterioration, but foremost to stand up for their human dignity altogether', said Martin Rømer, ETUCE European Director, commenting on the initiative.

The right to strike is a cornerstone of democracy and social justice and has been internationally recognised for more than 50 years. About 90 countries have incorporated the right to strike in their national constitution. In recent months, the employers' representatives at ILO are challenging the very legal foundation of the right to strike and its transposition into national law, to the point of disrupting the functioning of the ILO's supervisory mechanisms. The Employers' Group at the ILO seems intent on finding ways to eliminate the right to strike altogether. Meanwhile, social protests are being increasingly criminalised in a number of countries where workers are already suffering from austerity measures imposed by the governments.

For more information visit the ITUC website

On 18 February 2015, ITUC, ETUC, the League for Human Rights and the Belgian unions FGTB, CSC and CGSLB hold a symbolic demonstration in Brussels at the Place de la Liberté, at 11h.