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
• 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

• Latest Updates

The Malta Union of Teachers (MUT) has called a two-day strike in State schools and most independent schools after its request for teaching to go online in the midst of a COVID-19 peak is turned down by the government.

The union president, Marco Bonnici, stated that a request for teaching to go online until a thorough assessment of the COVID-19 situation is carried out by the health authorities, following a post-holidays spike in cases, was refused by the Prime Minister Robert Abela. The union received the information that teachers would not be paid if they opted for online lessons.

As the education authorities have ignored health advice to keep schools shut given the coronavirus infection peak and following the government's intransigence on the matter, the union called its members in schools that will not be offering online teaching to go on a two-day strike.

The new variant of the COVID-19 virus is said to be spreading faster and may affect children and young people more than its predecessor. Therefore, teachers and other education personnel count among the workers most exposed to the virus.

The strike that started this morning in schools is a great success. This clearly shows that teachers and other education personnel are concerned for their health and that the pandemic situation deserves analysis and action. ETUCE endorses the MUT in their call on the Maltese health and education authorities to immediately analyse the pandemic situation and its effects on education personnel, children and families, in order to put in place appropriate health and safety measures to allow for a safe return to education institutions.

ETUCE continues to support its member organisations, many of whom are likely to face similar struggles in ensuring the health and safety of their affiliates in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic.