Remote but not far away: Italy’s FLC-CGIL takes trade union organising online
Information current: 20 April 2020
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.
- 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
- Hungary: ETUCE Member organisation calls for teachers to be among priority groups for COVID-19 vaccination
- Malta: MUT orders a strike after the government denies their request for online teaching
- 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
- COVID-19 : NEU report highlights weeks of unanswered questions to the government on the reopening of schools
- 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
- 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
- Unions in Belgium and Germany join school community voices to demand careful reopening
- In Denmark DLF works hard so that the health and safety of education personnel is protected in back-to-school policies
- 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
- Spain's FECCOO calls for government action on teacher recruitment
- In Germany VBE insists that lawmakers must consult teachers on COVID-19 legislation
- Teachers in Serbia make education work despite the crisis
- SBASHK supports education staff in Kosovo with the challenges of digital teaching
- ETUCE calls for coordinated and rational measures
- Nordic education unions join forces with public authorities to fight pandemic
- NEU helps staff in England and Wales stay safe and negotiate with leadership
- 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

In the era of COVID-19 and social distancing, education trade unions are using online tools to strengthen the bonds and solidarity on which our movement is built. In Italy, FLC-CGIL is organising around the professional voice of teachers and education workers, ensuring that their perspectives are heard. Through an online petition to support its new Manifesto, FLC-CGIL is defending the irreplaceable importance of the teacher-student relationship at the heart of the education system.
ETUCE member organisation FLC-CGIL has launched an online petition to gather support for their Manifesto for Inclusive Education (pdf). The Manifesto is aimed at teachers, other education personnel and experts, and the whole school community. It offers constructive proposals which would ensure that the central relationship between teachers and students is not overshadowed during periods of online and distance teaching.
The epidemic, says FLC-CGIL, has forced schools into an unprecedented situation where they must abandon, albeit temporarily, their basic essence: sociability, sharing, and the daily interaction of pupils and students. It has made classroom teachers into "distance teachers", a new challenge which education personnel are facing with enormous commitment and professionalism. However, commitment is not enough to bridge the gap between teachers and students, and distance teaching is showing its limits. It cannot replace the educational relationship established in the classroom and risks accentuating inequalities and penalising more vulnerable students. Therefore, FLC-CGIL argues, the current situation of distance teaching should itself be understood as an emergency.
Launching the Manifesto, FLC-CGIL General Secretary Francesco Sinopoli said: “We ask all experts on pedagogy, psychology, sociology and philosophy to sign our Manifesto – but above all teachers and parents. We must ensure that teaching continues to be force for progress and the development of knowledge in our country. The COVID-19 crisis cannot become an excuse to further hand education over to profit-making market operations which entrench and increase inequality."
At times of confinement, education trade unions’ use of online tools is proving a useful way to make the majority opinions in the school community visible. This Manifesto and accompanying petition will be delivered to the Minister of Education. They will serve as a reminder that the teaching and learning needs of the new generation must remain at the centre of education despite remote schooling.
Graziamaria Pistorino, FLC-CGIL National Secretary, adds: “As FLC-CGIL, we deemed it important to speak to the professionalism of the teacher, with emphasis on their pedagogical approach and expertise. In this process, we have received the support of professional associations and authoritative pedagogists. This emergency requires urgent action, but it means we cannot to speak to colleagues in person, as we used to do, during assemblies or other gatherings. Therefore, today more than ever, it is necessary to find new ways to strengthen our movement and defend our values.”
Image modified by Bryn Watkins from an original by Pietro Luca Cassarino on Flickr, used and free for reuse under licence Attribution-ShareAlike 2.0 Generic.