ETUCE spring Committee 2019
Published:
The ETUCE Committee meeting in Brussels on 11-12 March 2019 adopted the ETUCE campaign statement “Shape the future of Europe with teachers” in light of the European Parliament elections in May 2019 and the EI Global Response campaign with a view to raise awareness on and promote the attractiveness of the teaching profession.
High on the agenda featured the preparation for the 8th EI World Congress under the theme Educators and their Unions Taking the Lead, to be held from 19-26 July 2019 in Bangkok, Thailand with a presentation by EI General Secretary, David Edwards.
Amongst other important issues the Committee members debated on the priorities of the Romanian Presidency of the Council of the European Union, the impact of Brexit on the education sector, the latest key developments of the European Sectoral Social Dialogue (ESSDE), including the Joint ETUCE/EFEE Declaration Towards a Framework of Action on the attractiveness of the teaching profession adopted by the ESSDE Plenary meeting on 19 November 2018. Under the point of economic governance, the Committee members discussed the results of the Country Reports of the European Semester 2019 regarding investment in education, professional issues and working conditions of education personnel, as well as quality and inclusiveness of education. In this context, the Committee was informed about the European Commission’s proposal to link the European implementation of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to the European Semester and to mainstream SDGs in all EU’s policies.
Receiving a report on the recent ETUCE missions to Bosnia and Herzegovina and Turkey the Committee members expressed their continued solidarity with education trade unions in both countries as well as in the Netherlands and Latvia, where education trade unions are planning upcoming nation-wide strike actions.
The Committee included also the preparation of the ETUCE delegation to the ETUC Congress A fairer Europe for workers to be held in Vienna in May 2019 and culminated in the update about the activities within various European projects implemented by ETUCE on such topics as migration, gender equality, democratic citizenship, and trade union renewal, drawing in particular attention to the Online course on ‘Citizenship and Human Rights Education for Change’ in English and French from 29 April to 9 June 2019.