Labor Relations in Education: An International Perspective

This is a comparative study of the background, development, laws, structure, and impact of teacher unionism in nations around the world. This analysis offers an international perspective on the world’s most populous profession - teaching - and its halting but powerful efforts to form unions, to engage in collective bargaining, and to win a decent living for its millions of members. Teachers, union leaders, policymakers, and all who are interested in the issues surrounding education as a profession, the operation of schools, the role of government in education, and the complexities of labour relations in education should make this book useful reading. An introduction provides an overview of labour relations in education world-wide, and then separate chapters by experts on education and labour relations in 15 different countries analyze current policies and problems in places as diverse as China, Greece, Hungary, Mexico, New Zealand, Sweden, Great Britain, and the US. Specific country studies and the overall conclusion at the end of the book point to past trends and future possible reforms. This study emphasizes the importance of unions in national affairs and describes the relationships between governments and the labour movement. A bibliographic essay completes the work.