Solidarity from Europe's teachers

International solidarity messages

TUC march for a future that works

20 October 2012

The ETUCE wishes to express full solidarity with the TUC members in the United Kingdom joining the mass demonstration in London on 20 October 2012 and amongst them also members from the ETUCE's member organisations in the UK.

The TUC has announced this mass protest action to give a strong signal against the government's austerity measures in response to the global financial and economic crisis. The trade unions have strongly condemned austerity measures which are socially unfair and hit the weakest groups of society. This very short-sighted savings policy will lead to a worrying situation where workers and their families will be pushed to the edge of their sheer existence.

Social problems are the cruel reality in many European citizens' daily life. As a matter of fact more and more people in Europe descend further into poverty. We have been witnessing desperate citizens in many other European capitals demonstrating against unbearable living conditions. Indeed, it is high time to change the course and to work with combined energies against the worsening of the crisis and for improvement. The governments have to find better ways to make sure that the crisis does not spread even further.

As TUC General Secretary Brendan Barber has rightly pointed out: 'The evidence is mounting that austerity is failing.' The ETUCE strongly supports this view and calls into question whether these brutal measures and budget policies will really bring any European country closer to the end of the economic crisis. Just saving in the wrong places can hardly be the right strategy to boost economic growth and employment. Instead the government should introduce economic, social and structural reforms. These reforms must also create a better social balance and fill the deep gaps between the rich and the poor. The ETUCE believes in a policy based on solidarity and fairness recognising the need for solutions to regulate the financial market and avoiding the destabilisation of the European economy.

The ETUCE and its member organisations in Europe have supported the demand against austerity and for social justice and social equality. It will continue to do so in the future. The public authorities in the UK just as everywhere else in Europe must recognise that austerity measures are not the key to a sustainable solution. They only increase poverty and working people's anxiety about their future.

The ETUCE wishes the people protesting in the streets of London every success for their important contribution for more social justice.

Martin Romer

European Director

The ETUCE, the European Trade Union Committee for Education is the European Region of Education International. It represents 135 teacher unions in Europe, with 12.8 million teachers from all levels of the education sector in 45 countries.