The Union of Dutch Teachers ( nl, Bond van Nederlandsche Onderwijzer, BNO) was a

trade union A trade union (labor union in American English), often simply referred to as a union, is an organization of workers intent on "maintaining or improving the conditions of their employment", ch. I such as attaining better wages and benefits ( ...

representing schoolteachers in the Netherlands. The union was founded in 1874 as the Public Assistant Teachers' Association, with 267 members in four cities. Its founders were a group of teachers who were not senior enough to be permitted to join the existing trade association, the Dutch Education Society (NOV). From 1878, it represented all teachers, and changed its name to the Dutch Public Educators' and Head Teachers' Association, but membership declined, until the union was only active in Amsterdam and Rotterdam. From 1888, the union was reinvigorated. It adopted ''De Bode'', journal of the Amsterdam branch, as a national journal, and began recruiting across the country. The following year, it became the "Union of Dutch Teachers", becoming the first teachers' organisation in the country to identify itself as a trade union. It promoted smaller class sizes and more widespread entitlement to free education, with universal compulsory education being achieved in 1900. Membership of the union reached 6,000 in 1901. From 1921, its leading figure was Theo Thijssen.{{cite web , title=THIJSSEN, Theodorus Johannes (1879-1943) , url=http://resources.huygens.knaw.nl/bwn/BWN/lemmata/bwn1/thijssen , website=Huygens Hub , accessdate=6 November 2020 In 1924, it affiliated to the

Dutch Confederation of Trade Unions The Dutch Confederation of Trade Unions ( nl, Nederlands Verbond van Vakverenigingen, NVV) was a Dutch social-democratic trade union. History The NVV was founded in 1906 as a merger of fifteen smaller unions, as a result of the inability of the p ...

(NVV). The union attempted to maintain its activities under the Nazi occupation in

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, which led to heavy criticism from the NVV after the liberation. In 1946, it merged with the NOV, to form the Dutch Teachers' Association.

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Education trade unions Trade unions established in 1874 Trade unions disestablished in 1946 Trade unions in the Netherlands