The 10th Education International (EI) World Congress, meeting in Buenos Aires, Argentina, from 29 July to 2 August, notes that:
Considering that organising is a pertinent topic and an imperative for the preservation and development of education unions, even more so at a time when trade unions in general are suffering attacks on several fronts, particularly from far-right ideologies;
Considering that we must be able to equip trade union activists through innovative ideas, practices and training;
Considering that we must now be able to deepen concepts such as freedom, democracy and trade union rights and give them content and density that help to root peaceful, collaborative forms of human coexistence and respect for others and for differences;
Remembering that many member organisations operate in increasingly difficult organisational and political contexts;
Recognising that the rapid social, political, economic, environmental, cultural and digital changes that we are experiencing require urgent socio-political and trade union training to face the challenges;
Considering also that we must be able to protect and shield acquired rights, namely the rights to become a union member and to have active duties in a trade union;
Considering that trade union rights need greater legal and institutional protection, as only then can we fight not only for their respect and application, but also for their deepening and expansion;
Considering that the issue of trade union rights is inseparable from the issue of trade union organising;
Also considering what experience has already taught us all in these matters, we believe it is necessary to reinforce our capacity to improve in the area of structural (re)organisation of union organisations and their different components, particularly highlighting the difficulties and the need for urgent intervention about the growing inadequacy in union interaction/communication processes in the face of current challenges: profound and constant social, political, environmental, and technological changes;
Lastly, the fragmentation of the trade union movement, whether it occurs because of internal conflicts or external political or religious interference, severely inhibits the effective promotion and protection of educators’ collective interests.
The 10th World Congress of Education International:
Mandates the Executive Board to consider to establish a Special Task Force, convening members from different continents, to look into the current situation regarding trade union organisations and the existence or lack of safeguard in order to:
suggest ideas and come up with proposals that could be innovative in strengthening the union structure in its different dimensions and make it appealing and unifying for the majority of workers, particularly for younger people entering the world of work;
suggest ideas and come up with proposals for union action in order to consolidate/reinforce acquired union rights;
suggest ideas and come up with proposals to improve levels of union innovation in matters and ways that allow reinforcing adherence and the interest in educational policies and working conditions from a progressive perspective.