This is the first comparative study of the background, development, laws, structure, and impact of teacher unionism in nations around the world. This ground-breaking 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 labor relations in education should make this book must reading.

An introduction provides an overview of labor relations in education world-wide, and then separate chapters by experts on education and labor relations in fifteen different countries analyze current policies and problems in places as diverse as China, Greece, Hungary, Mexico, New Zealand, Sweden, Great Britain, and the United States. Specific country studies and the overall conclusion at the end of the book point to past trends and future possible reforms. This unique study emphasizes the importance of unions in national affairs and describes the relationships between governments and the labor movement. A bibliographic essay completes the work.