Education International

EI, together with other Global Unions such as ITUC, ITF and PSI, are launching an online campaign in partnership with LabourStart to condemn governmental anti-union harassment tactics in Turkey. They invite their affiliates, affiliates’ members and concerned citizens to take action now on LabourStart and send urgently protest messages to the government of Turkey. http://dlvr.it/1pGbkt

The EI European region, the European Trade Union Committee for Education (ETUCE), has joined the large Regulate Global Finance Now! campaign. This campaign comprises five sub-campaigns: “A financial transaction tax, now!”, “Credit Rating Agencies”, “Stop food speculation! Now!”, “Managing future crises”, and “Bonus watch!” http://dlvr.it/1pDbgj

For the first time in its history, the Centrale des syndicats du Québec (CSQ), EI’s largest member union in Quebec, elected a nurse, Ms Louise Chabot, as its President. Ms. Chabot succeeds Mr Rejean Parent, who led the organisation since 2003. http://dlvr.it/1ntwST

The Cambodian Independent Teachers’ Association (CITA), one of EI’s national affiliate, has condemned the fact that the Cambodian Confederation of Unions (CCU) has again been denied formal government recognition as a trade union confederation. Made up of seven unions and associations, the CCU represents more than 90,000 workers nationwide. http://dlvr.it/1nJvy2

Representatives of 19 EI member organisations from Southern Africa, meeting in Johannesburg, condemned in the strongest terms the actions of the Swaziland Government in brutally attacking strikers and imprisoning many of them. http://dlvr.it/1n5phN

EI welcomes a recent BBC show featuring the Association of Teachers and Lecturers’ (ATL) General Secretary Mary Bousted and Michelle Rhee, a former chancellor of the District of Columbia Public Schools. It allowed the UK’s top education trade unionist to reassert what quality teachers and teacher assessment mean. http://dlvr.it/1n1drx

The Swaziland National Association of Teachers (SNAT) has decided to contravene a court decision and instead go on an open-ended strike over demands for a 4.5 per cent salary increase. The SNAT, an EI affiliate, is extending a two-day action held on 13-14 June, in which over 6,000 teachers participated. http://dlvr.it/1mqsdp

Education unions in the United States (US) have cautiously welcomed the Supreme Court’s decision on 25 June to block elements of Arizona’s anti-immigration law.\n\n http://dlvr.it/1mm1MZ

EI’s national affiliates in the UK, the National Union of Teachers (NUT) and the National Association of Schoolmasters Union of Women Teachers (NASUWT), have called on the Government to provide teachers with quality training and decent working conditions. http://dlvr.it/1mbH5J

Eğitim Sen, its national affiliate, has informed EI that the union head office in Ankara and the Confederation of Public Employees (KESK)’s offices have been raided by the police early morning on 25 June. Nearly 70 people were taken into custody and had their houses searched by the police, including three Eğitim Sen Executive Board members: Mehmet Bozgeyik, General Secretary, Sakine Esen Yilmaz, Women’s Secretary and Abdullah Karahan, Secretary for Financial Affairs. http://dlvr.it/1mKqGp