Education International welcomes the creation of the new global trade union centre, the ITUC (International Trade Union Confederation). The unification of the ICFTU and WCL with eight trade union centres previously affiliated to neither is a historic step by unions to meet future challenges.
EI General Secretary Fred van Leeuwen said in Vienna, Austria, where the founding congress is currently being held, that the decision to create the ITUC is a major step towards organising for the future - a future which may contain perils, but also seeds of opportunity.
Van Leeuwen was also speaking in his capacity as chair of the Global Unions Conference.
Elections were held earlier today and Guy Ryder has been elected as the new international's General Secretary while Sharan Burrow is the ITUC's founding President.
For more information, please visit the ITUC website: http://www.ituc-csi.org