About NATFHE : International Work

On this page:
• Introduction
• How you can get involved
• News
• Information and Resources
• Solidarity
• Other Links

Introduction

In recent years, a range of issues, including the increased involvement of the European Union in education and employment policy, the threat of GATS (General Agreement on Trade in Services) to public services, and the challenges posed by 9/11 and the war with Iraq, have raised the visibility of European and international matters within NATFHE.

But the union has been working on many of the underlying international issues for a long time. NATFHE has built up a reputation in the last twenty years as one of the most significant unions representing teachers in post school education (further and vocational education, higher education and research, teacher education and adult continuing education/lifelong learning), at the European level and worldwide.

This feeds back into our relations with the UK government, for example in protecting UK higher education from inclusion in the General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS), for the current round at least. We work through Education International and the European Trade Union Committee for Education, both of which are described in brief below.

NATFHE also currently provides secretariat services to the British and Irish Group of Teachers' Unions, a grouping of twelve teachers unions including NATFHE and the AUT in the UK and the Republic of Ireland. This page is intended to reflect the continuing themes of NATFHE's European interests and concerns and to provide information on the key issues members are concerned about at the moment. Also you will find information on other organisations’ campaigns and activities, and links to a number of useful websites with an international focus. We hope you find it interesting and useful.

EDUCATION INTERNATIONAL (EI)

Education International is the principal global body representing teachers, comprising 310 unions in 159 countries with a total individual membership of 26 million - the largest global union federation. It is a trade secretariat of the International Confederation of Free Trade Unions.

EI works closely with UNESCO, WHO, UNAIDS, ILO, the World Bank, and the OECD. The global structures of EI are the triennial World Congress (next meets in July 2004 in Porto Allegre, Brazil) and the Executive Board. EI globally provides a teachers' voice in dialogue with the international institutions, the UN and its agencies, the International Labour Organisation, the GATS, World Bank, OECD, and the WHO, as well providing solidarity and support to unions in their national and regional work. It also operates at the regional level, and the EI European Region, is arguably the most effective of these, working closely with the ETUCE (see below) and benefiting from the density of trade union membership and historical roots of the European teachers' organisations.

NATFHE plays a full part in EI globally and particularly at the European level: NATFHE is recognised by EI as one of the key dedicated post-school teachers’ unions, and has played a leading part in the formulation of post school policies in EI since EI’s foundation in 1993. You can find out more from their website at www.ei-ie.org.

ETUCE

ETUCE (the European Trade Union Committee for Education) is the voice of the teachers' unions of the European Union and EFTA countries in dealings with the institutions of the European Union; formally it is an industry committee of the ETUC (European Trades Union Confederation). It operates through biennial General Assemblies and an Executive Board (on which NATFHE currently sits), and a secretariat based in Brussels. The membership comprises the teachers' unions in EI (see below) and the World Confederation of Teachers. Over 95% of ETUCE's members are in EI member unions, and the representative structures reflect that. With enlargement of the European Union, significant change of the ETUCE and its relations to EI are likely to come about in the next year, and the forthcoming ETUCE General Assembly in December will begin this process of change. (The ETUCE website is currently in the process of major overhaul).

BRITISH AND IRISH GROUP OF TEACHERS' UNIONS

The British and Irish group of Teachers' Unions (BIGTU) is an informal grouping of the twelve teachers unions in the United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland who are members of EI. The group meets twice a year as well as at key EI and ETUCE events, determines common positions on key developments, and shares information. NATFHE provides a secretariat for the Group.

How you can get involved

Visitors to this page may be interested in getting more directly involved in our work. If you would like to go onto a mailing list for materials on any of the following issue, please email Paul Bennett at head office:

• Globalisation The challenge of the GATS and other forms of global 'commodification' of higher education and research.

• The Bologna process for the closer integration of European higher education systems What does it mean for the UK? What are the advantages and dangers? How should institutions respond?

• Solidarity issues In recent years, NATFHE has taken a particular interest in post school education in Palestine and in Colombia, and has been active in the campaigns against the invasion and occupation of Iraq.

• Letter writing in support of academics and students under threat for their professional or trade union work In response to calls from Education International and Amnesty International.

News

July 2005

MAKE POVERTY HISTORY CAMPAIGN

NATFHE continues to support the MAKEPOVERTYHISTORY campaign. See the MAKEPOVERTYHISTORY campaign page for more information.

6 May 2005

PALESTINE/ISRAEL

At the NEC on 30 April 2005, the following resolution was carried overwhelmingly: In the light of AUT Council decisions on Palestine and Israel, the NEC confirms its policy of working to support the building of civil society in Palestine, including cooperation with AUT where appropriate, to build positive relations with Palestinian and Israeli institutions and organisations which share our goals, and the consideration of sanctions where they are targeted and deliverable in respect of institutions which are creating obstacles to a peaceful resolution of the crisis in Palestine.

The NEC further resolved to support the Palestine Solidarity Campaign demonstration in London on 21 May.

Download NATFHE's policy on Palestine/Israel and relations with Israeli academic institutions (2003) | General Secretary's report on international work to ANC 2003 (Word documents)

13 December 2004

PALESTINE APPEAL FOR EUROPEAN SOLIDARITY

The Palestine General Federation of Trade Unions (PGFTU) has launched an appeal for solidarity from European civil society.

The Strasbourg Manifesto - made up of more than 700 NGOs from 22 EU countries - aims to offer, in close partnership with some sections of the European Parliament, an important and significant contribution to the resolution of the Israelo-Palestinian conflict. The Strasbourg Manifesto Coordination Group has received an urgent request from the PGFTU.

On October 14 2004 during a day session devoted to the situation in occupied Palestine at the European Social Forum, London, the spokesman of the PGFTU, Mohammed M A Saleh, made a solemn appeal for solidarity from all sections of European civil society of which trade unions form an essential element.

The aim is to mobilise in order to exercise political pressure at the European level, or at an even more international level, in order to end the devastating effects on the economy and on employment in the Occupied Territories, the real cause of which is the colonial-type war that the Palestinian people are subjected to.

Palestine lives under an apartheid regime clearly identified by the Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU) which, in a recent message to the Palestinian people has expressed its 'support for their battle for independence and national sovereignty'. The South Africans, who have suffered and overcome this type of segregation, are the best placed to judge the gravity of the situation and they have thereby showns the way forward.

The Strasbourg Manifesto Coordination Group have, as a first step, made contact with local trade unions which have all stated that they are ready to support future actions to help the PGFTU.

The death of President Yasser Arafat had added a further degree of urgency to the absolute necessity to bring to the fore the help to be brought to the Palestinian people and their representatives who, on 9 January 2005 should elect a new president.

The conditions under which these elections will take place depend in not negligible part on the capacity of European civil society to mobilise together so that national and European politicians ensure that the elections take place in as normal a manner as possible, despite the presence of an omnipresent occupying army and settlers hostile to everything that could enable an occupied people to democratically choose a president, a government and the apparatus of State.

Different sorts of elected representatives have already shown their determination to be involved in this concrete form of support.

On 17 November 2004, during a Parliamentary session in Strasbourg, the European parliamentarians decided that 30 of them will act as observers during the election. Some other parliamentarians, partly in their capacity within the Palestine Delegation, were ready, if the Palestinians so wished, to take on some responsibilities locally during this electoral, or even pre-electoral period.

French local authorities have responded favourably to the request by the Palestinian Authority to come during the first half of December to work on the local elections.

In Lyons on 5 December 2004 at a fringe meeting during the 'Associations of Mayors for Peace', the European network will discuss their involvement in the municipal electoral process. These elections should be starting in the towns of the West Bank on 23 December but the dates will doubtless be postponed by a few weeks given the proximity of the presidential election on 9 January.

Alongside the actions mentioned above - and these represent only some examples - the NGOs and the trade unions of the entire European Union should: - make vocal their solidarity;
• set up as quickly as possible the means to alert public opinion to the importance of the Palestinian presidential election
• prepare an effective presence before, during and after the presidential election, according to the needs expressed by the Palestinians;

It is right now, and very rapidly before the election, that Europe, through its resources can and must carry a decisive weight on its elected members and, through its presence, on the local situation itself, a major stake in the conflict.

It is up to all the parties to act more or less instantly in close and informal collaboration with each other, systematically bypassing bureaucracy which could obstruct immediate and indispensable effectiveness.

The Strasbourg Manifesto Coordination Group, of which some of its components are very present in the occupied Territories and whose members are in permanent contact with Palestinians and Israeli pacifists is operating internationally and addresses all trade unions with a view to developing a common action. Its website www.eutopic.net/coordination offers a forum for suggestions from trade unions or these can be sent via email: [email protected].

If Europe is incapable of bringing peace to this neighboring region, no-one should doubt that this conflict, on which the eyes of the world are focused, will have, in our countries, consequences of which already daily we can identify the first fruits.

NATFHE AND AUT COOPERATE ON BRAIN DRAIN PROJECT

Following NATFHE and AUT cooperation on a resolution of the effects of 'brain drain' on higher education worldwide at the Education International Congress in July, the two unions have now won a £20,000 grant from a DfID/ TUC fund, to work together to explore the ways in which brain drain affects employment in UK post-school education, and the consequences for the teachers, researchers and students involved and for their home countries.

The project will run for 18 months and will conclude with a major conference at NATFHE head office on 23 March 2006. It is intended that this work should contribute also to the global work on this issue being done by EI. If you are interested in knowing more about the project, or have experiences you would like to contribute, please contact Paul Bennett.

The report commissioned by the unions The Brain Drain - academic and skilled migration to the UK and its impacts on Africa has now been published.

6 October 2004

GLOBAL MARKETPLACE IN HE

With trade unionists across Europe continuing to be concerned about the globalisation of HE, Paul Bennett (NATFHE's official with responsible for international matters) spoke to a conference in Rome on 'The Bologna process, convergence and the global marketplace in higher education'.

See text of speech (Word doc).

12 February 2004

SURVIVING UNDER SIEGE

A recent Amnesty International report sets out the impact on employment and the economy in the Palestinian territories, of Israeli policies and military activities. Although the report concentrates on the limitations imposed on Palestinian economic life, the same points apply equally forcefully to the restrictions imposed on Palestinian academics' and students' right to study

27 November 2003

GLOBALISATION, DEBT AND BRAIN DRAIN GO HIGHER ON EI AGENDA

The EI fourth world conference on higher education and research took place in early November in Dakar, Senegal, and put the concerns of developing countries HE unions about globalisation, debt and brain drain higher on EI's agenda. NATFHE's Paul Bennett acted as general rapporteur for the conference - see his report (Word doc).

7 October 2003

GLOBAL MARKETPLACE IN HE

Trade unionists across Europe are increasingly concerned about the development of a 'global marketplace' in higher education. Paul Bennett, NATFHE's official with responsible for international matters, spoke to a conference of Norwegian HE trade unionists on these issues in Oslo on 6 October. This was particularly timely as the next phase of the 'Bologna' process, just starting, is to be coordinated by the Norwegian higher education ministry, leading up to a conference in Bergen in May 2004.

See text of speech (Word doc).

17 September 2003

CARLOS GONZALEZ RETURNS

Carlos Gonzalez, leader of SINTRUNICOL, the university workers’ union in Columbia, made a return visit to Yorkshire and Humberside Region this summer after addressing NATFHE Conference in 2002. See the report (Word doc) of his visit.

Information and Resources

The Brain Drain - academic and skilled migration to the UK and its impacts on Africa Report to the AUT and NATFHE, April 2005

NATFHE General Secretary's report to Conference 2002 and 2003
The increased level of interest in global events in the last two years has led to a commensurate increase in activity by NATFHE at national level. Often this is necessarily dealing with major events as they arise. Therefore the General Secretary in each of the last two years has prepared special reports on international matters to Conference. See:
Report to Conference 2002 (Word doc)
Report to Conference 2003 (Word doc)

International development matters
Monthly on-line magazine from the TUC. View it on their site or register to receive it as an email bulletin.

Key EI /ETUCE documents

Education International December 2005 conference documents:
Conference report
Education International Statement to the Delegations to the 6th WTO Ministerial concerning GATS and Education

EI Europe document: The Teachers’ voice in the Sorbonne / Bologna debate on the future of European Higher Education and Research

EI Guidelines on the transnational provision of Higher Education

GATS
NATFHE response to the DTI consultation document on GATS

NATFHE is a signatory to the GATSwatch 'Take education out of GATS' statement; you can download the statement as a PDF file from this site, or see www.gatswatch.org/educationoutofgats for more in formation

For a thorough analysis of the threat posed by GATS to higher education, see ‘Trading it away’ at www.peopleandplanet.org.

Bologna process of convergence of European HE systems
For definitive information on this process and the inter-ministerial conference in Berlin, September 2003, see www.bologna-berlin2003.de/en/aktuell/index.htm.

BIGTU
(See description of BIGTU above)
Report of meeting of 24 March 2003 (Word doc)

A Trade Union Digest of Organisations & Resources on International Development Issues
A quarterly digest for trade unionists promoting greater understanding of international development. It contains brief reviews of some of the resources appropriate to trade unionists, useful web sites and contact details of organisations involved in international development matters.

Solidarity

In the last year, NATFHE’s solidarity efforts have focussed on the Middle East and on Colombia. Here are some of the key links.

COLOMBIA

Justice for Colombia
9 Arkwright Road London NW3 6AB
www.justiceforcolombia.org

NATFHE nationally is affiliated to Justice for Colombia. Individual regions and branches can also join. Justice for Colombia is a coalition of British trade unions and other organisations that support the Colombian people and trade union movement in their campaign for basic trade union and other human rights and their struggle for peace with social justice. The organisation was started in response to the appalling situation faced by trade unionists in Colombia - the most dangerous place in the world to be a member of a trade union.

NATFHE members part of a delegation to Colombia:
War on Want sponsored two NATFHE members to visit Colombia in April/May this year. The purpose of the visit was to investigate the claims that Colombia is the most dangerous country in the world to be a trade unionist. In the last decade 1,535 people have been killed as a result of their involvement in trade union activity - more than in the rest of world combined. Not only does this severely undermine democracy but it also means thousands of workers are forced to live in poverty. Colombia is one of the most unequal societies on earth with 3% of the population owning 70% of the land. It was also known that teachers were more at risk than other trade unionist. Last year 1 teacher every week was killed. So far this year the rate has increased.

See report of visit: Mayday Columbia (pdf file)

Social cleansing and the treatment of minority groups, like lesbians and gay men is a real issue in Colombia: a report (pdf file) by Maire Daley & Gerard Kelly, the 2 NATFHE delegates to visit Colombia, was presented to the TUC LGBT Committee in July this year.

Colombia Solidarity Campaign
www.colombiasolidarity.org.uk

Report of visit of Carlos Gonzalez of Sintraunicol

PALESTINE

As well as Conference resolutions on Palestine and Israel, NATFHE NEC endorsed a statement on NATFHE’s position on the conflict (Word doc). Although prepared in Spring 2002, its principles remain relevant as the basis for NATFHE’s position.

Trade Union Friends of Palestine
www.tufp.org.uk

Palestine Solidarity Campaign
www.palestinecampaign.org

Friends of Bir Zeit University (FOBZU)
www.fobzu.org

IRAQ

NATFHE conference and NEC supported the international opposition to the war on Iraq and condemned the invasion, in conjuction with the TUC and many others. We continue to support the Stop the War Coalition's opposition to the occupation and the corporate pillaging of Iraq's economy and resources.

Stop the War Coalition
www.stopwar.org.uk