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.

• 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
• 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

• COVID-19

• Latest Updates

In Montenegro, like everywhere else in Europe, the school year has been strongly affected by the pandemic and its unprecedent consequences: start of the school year postponed, new online teaching methods, a high rate of infected students and education personnel, as well as challenging working conditions. The Trade Union of Education of Montenegro (TUEM) has not stopped supporting its members. “The trade union struggle must be continuous and we should never be completely satisfied with the achieved results, but persistently fight for the dignity of every education worker “, affirms Mrs Slavka Bošković, President of the TUEM.

The TUEM keeps fighting for its request for the valorisation of overtime work during the pandemic. This is the first point of discussion of the Platform, which was adopted by the TUEM Executive Board in December, and which will be presented to the newly constituted Ministry of Education, Science, Culture and Sports. “We have evidence that teachers and other education personnel are overburdened (due, among other things, to the new hybrid teaching methods), and we expect that we will solve this problem through social dialogue. If we fail, we will have to demand our rights through competent institutions. At the same time, we must fight for the equality of the teachers’ salaries with those of the public sector. This is the minimum that the state should do for people who transfer knowledge to young people”, says Mrs Slavka Bošković.

TUEM is planning to hold its Congress, which had been postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic, in the first quarter of 2021.

The ETUCE reasserts its support of TUEM and all its member organisations, tirelessly working to ensure safe and quality working conditions for all education workers in Europe. ETUCE, once again, calls on governments to strive for a healthy and inclusive recovery, prioritising the education sector as outlined in the ETUCE statement The Road to Recovery from the COVID-19 Crisis.