European Trade Union Committee for Education

The Congress defined the statutory tasks for the next five years in which the trade union seeks to achieve the enhancement of the social and professional status of teachers, to improve the payment system for teachers including obtaining the annual indexation of wages above the inflation level, to improve the union's work on financing teacher unions' activities in order to protect teachers' rights and to improve the efficiency and quality of education services.

Welcoming the Congress delegates, the Prime Minister of Russia, Dmitry Medvedev said: "The Education and Science Employees Union has obtained many achievements regarding the protection of social and labour rights, such as the improvement of the working conditions and lives of education staff and an increase in teachers' wages." The Minister of Education and Science,  Dmitry Livanov, highlighted the role of the trade union regarding the preservation of the rights incorporated in the constitution and the guarantees for educational staff and  emphasised that these were higher than for other state employees. According to the Education and Science Minister, teachers' dismissals in secondary and primary education are not to be expected. However, the forecast for university teachers was slightly different, where the drop in students is predicted to cause a budget decrease in 'state-funded places for students'. According to Livanov, higher education would be in "healthy shape" by 2016 and the fight against universities issuing state diplomas for money will be over.

According to Martin Rømer, ETUCE European Director, the government of any country is responsible for the maintenance and continued development of its education system. He asserted that the improvement of quality in education is impossible without decent wages and confidence in teachers and showed that the large number of students in classes, including students with special educational needs, badly affects and decreases quality in education.

Martin Rømer highlighted that the best education system exists in countries with a functioning social dialogue system between teachers and the government. He concluded: "Any reform of the education system should be carried out in agreement with teacher unions. Politicians can take any decision they esteem best, however the implementation and success of these decisions depend on the teachers".