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

• New NEU information tool to encourage critical-thinking on COVID-19 vaccines
• Hungarian teachers’ opinion on the reopening of schools
• 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

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.