European Trade Union Committee for Education

On 17 October 2014 ETUCE, held its 5th Round Table meeting in Podgorica within the project Promoting the potentials of the European sectoral social dialogue in education by addressing new challenges and exploring experience and knowledge. The meeting was attended by the Montenegrin Minister of Labour and Social Welfare, the Deputy Minister of Education, the President of EFEE, and representatives from the Montenegrin Trade Union of Education including its president and vice president.

Montenegro is an EU candidate country and is presently in the midst of the accession process. For that reason, the meeting also dealt with social dialogue in relation to the requirements set by the EU for a candidate country. Core technical adviser at UNDP, Dragan Đurić, and Head of Operation at the Delegation of the EU to Montenegro, André Lys, provided a comprehensive overview of the state of play of the Montenegrin road to accession and highlighted the challenges and opportunities. Experiences, perceptions and visions of Montenegrin social dialogue in education were discussed by the main employer of teachers, the Ministry of Education, and the Trade Union of Education in Montenegro. It was recognized that the crisis has had an impact on all aspects of society including education, but also that the social partners need to enhance cooperation in order to ensure quality education as well as fair conditions and rights for teachers.