European Trade Union Committee for Education

The COVID 19 outbreak is a public health crisis quite different than anything Europe has faced for many years. As education personnel and their trade unions grapple with the outbreak, we are supporting and informing member organisations in any way we can.

• Latest Updates

• ZNP successfully pushes for including teachers in the priority group for vaccination in Poland
• ETUCE participates in Finnish Educa online event on education and COVID-19
• Montenegro: news of the impact of the pandemic on education
• Kosovo: SBASHK demands signing of Collective Agreement and recognition of teachers’ daily work
• France: education trade unions prepared to strike for decent salaries and quality learning environments
• COVID-19: European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control publishes a new study on COVID transmission in schools
• Malta: MUT orders a strike after the government denies their request for online teaching
• Hungary: ETUCE Member organisation calls for teachers to be among priority groups for COVID-19 vaccination
• UK: Education trade unions mobilised to denounce ‘chaotic’ reopening of schools, advising members not to return, prompting government’s U-turn
• Basque Country: thousands of education workers strike for a safe return to school and quality education for all students
• Reopening of schools in the Netherlands: ETUCE Member organisation AOb demands quicker testing and better health and safety measures to protect staff and students and keep schools open
• Education social partners discuss the aftermath of COVID-19 in Europe
• Germany: Ensuring health and safety of teachers requires more efforts for the reopening of schools
• COVID-19: In Italy, 400 000 education workers gather for online rallies to protest for better employment and working conditions during the COVID-19 crisis and beyond
• German-speaking education trade unions LCH, GÖD and VBE unite for a joint statement on COVID-19 and call for better digital training of teachers
• COVID-19 : NEU report highlights weeks of unanswered questions to the government on the reopening of schools
• In Serbia, education trade unions mobilise to advocate for safe return to school for education personnel and students alike at the end of the school year
• Higher education admission procedures risk being disrupted by COVID-19 crisis
• Eurydice reports on closure and reopening of schools and education institutions across Europe
• Remote but not far away: Italy’s FLC-CGIL takes trade union organising online
• In Denmark DLF works hard so that the health and safety of education personnel is protected in back-to-school policies
• Unions in Belgium and Germany join school community voices to demand careful reopening
• In Malta MUT works with government and social partners to guide education system through crisis
• Hungarian trade unions protest plans to force education personnel off public sector contracts
• As France cancels exams, SNES-FSU demands a solution fair to students and teachers
• In Germany VBE insists that lawmakers must consult teachers on COVID-19 legislation
• Spain's FECCOO calls for government action on teacher recruitment
• NEU helps staff in England and Wales stay safe and negotiate with leadership
• Nordic education unions join forces with public authorities to fight pandemic
• Teachers in Serbia make education work despite the crisis
• SBASHK supports education staff in Kosovo with the challenges of digital teaching
• Russia’s ESEUR holds online Congress in shadow of COVID-19 outbreak
• Romania’s FSLI offers psychological support to teachers
• Albanian education union uses technology to reduce impact of COVID-19
• Estonia shares digital education tools for distance teaching and learning
• Latest information on the closure of schools and other education institutions
• ETUCE calls for coordinated and rational measures

Despite the COVID-19 shutdown and its grave consequences for the economy and labour market, the Hungarian government is pushing ahead with a destabilising liberalisation of vocational and technical education. More than 30000 teachers in these sectors will lose their status as public sector employees. Now the government has announced similar plans for workers in cultural institutions such as museums and libraries taking away their public services status

Hungary is likely to see a huge increase in unemployment. With hundreds of thousands needing support in the search for a new job, vocational education and training (VET) will have a vital role to play. Stable public VET institutions will be especially necessary because the country’s capacity for workplace-based training and apprenticeships would suffer in the event of a private sector collapse. In this context, ETUCE member organisation PSZ (Teacher Union of Hungary) insists "it would be good to reinforce the network of public schools”.

Meanwhile, the government gave PDSZ (Teachers' Democratic Union of Hungary) only three days’ notice before announcing their plans to impose a similar change on workers in cultural institutions. Those three days were over the Easter weekend. Workers in archives, public libraries, museums and performing arts organisations will lose their status as public sector employees and be moved onto more precarious contracts under the general labour code according to PDSZ. ETUCE member organisation PDSZ says “it is paramount to stop this proposal” and calls for support from the international trade union movement.

In Hungary’s mainstream education sector, schools remain closed. PSZ is in consultations with the government in the hope of developing plans that will allow students to complete the academic year and take exams. However, any reopening must be done with utmost respect for health and safety, and authorities must take measures to ensure fair chances for all if exams do ultimately go ahead.

Image by Jo Stolp from Pixabay