ANDE

What ANDE does

ANDE (Asociación Nacional de Educadores y Educadoras), operating as Sindicato ANDE, is Costa Rica's oldest and largest teachers' union, founded on October 24, 1942, when approximately 1,200 educators gathered at the Teatro Nacional in San José. The organization represents education workers employed by or retired from the Ministry of Public Education (MEP), including classroom teachers across primary, secondary, and technical modalities as well as non-teaching staff and pensioners. It converted from association to gremial union in 2015 and to industrial union in 2019, the latter materially expanding its recognized bargaining universe to all MEP workers. ANDE negotiates the Convención Colectiva (Collective Agreement) with the MEP and provides free legal counsel, labor advisory, pension processing, recreation center access, professional development through ESANDE, and member discounts.

ANDE's service delivery rests on two digital platforms hosted at andeenlinea.ande.cr: the Oficina Virtual ANDE, which handles IT support requests, legal and labor consultations, pension appointments, accounting inquiries, women's affairs requests, communications forms, and procurement submissions; and ANDE en Línea, which provides appointment booking, case tracking, and affiliate registry access. These digital channels are complemented by ANDE TVeo (an internet TV channel), the monthly La Voz de ANDE newspaper, and a network of regional filiales and basic affiliates covering all seven Costa Rican provinces plus specialized branches for pensioners. The organization also maintains an "ANDE Bot" conversational interface on its main website.

ANDE operates as a non-profit funded exclusively through member dues — functionally a recurring subscription model — with no commercial pricing, venture backing, or parent company. Governance is democratic: members elect the Board of Directors (currently 2025-2028, led by President Gilda Montero Sánchez), the National Congress, the National Council of Representatives, ethics and electoral tribunals, and specialized committees. Strategic affiliations include Educación Internacional para América Latina (IE-AL) and discount partnerships with private universities, clinics, and commercial entities. No revenue, dues rate, headcount, or financial figures are publicly disclosed.

Name

ANDE

Legal name

Sindicato ANDE

Website

https://ande.cr

Company type

Private

Founded year

1942

Operating status

Operating

Short description

ANDE (Asociación Nacional de Educadores y Educadoras) is a Costa Rican non-profit teachers' union founded in 1942 that represents active and retired Ministry of Public Education workers through collective bargaining, legal and pension services, digital member portals, and a national network of regional affiliates.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Headquarters

HQ city

San José

HQ country

Costa Rica

HQ region

Latin America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Infrastructure, Technology or R&D, Marketing or Sales

Revenue model

1. Union Membership Dues: ANDE operates as a teachers' union funded through membership dues from affiliated education workers. The union provides services including legal advice, pension processing, recreation centers, and collective bargaining support to its members.

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels3 records

Marketing channels5 records

Core offering

ANDE is a non-profit labor union (sindicato) representing education workers employed under Costa Rica's Ministry of Public Education (MEP). Its core offering is labor representation and member services, anchored by the Collective Agreement (Convención Colectiva) negotiated with the MEP, and complemented by legal advice, pension processing support, professional development through the ESANDE training school, recreation facilities (Centros de Recreo), and a nationwide network of regional branches (filiales) across all seven provinces.

Product overview

ANDE operates primarily as a membership-based teachers' union providing services through two interconnected digital platforms: the Oficina Virtual ANDE serves as the main virtual office portal for administrative functions including IT support requests, legal services, labor inquiries, and pension management, while ANDE en Línea provides online services for appointment booking, case consultations, and affiliate data management. Both platforms are accessible through the andeenlinea.ande.cr domain and constitute the core digital service infrastructure for the union's approximately 1,200+ educator members.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• ANDE en línea: Online services portal providing consultation bookings, case tracking, delegate appointments, and member data management
• Escuela Sindical de ANDE (ESANDE)
• La Voz de ANDE
• ANDE TVeo

Products and services

• Oficina Virtual ANDE Online virtual office portal that delivers administrative services to ANDE members, including document access, member information, and institutional functions. Targeted at active and retired education workers affiliated with ANDE.
• ANDE en Línea Online services platform that allows ANDE members to book appointments, consult on cases, and manage their affiliate data. Serves active and retired education workers under the Ministry of Public Education (MEP).
• ESANDE (Escuela Sindical de ANDE) Escuela Sindical de ANDE — the union's dedicated training school delivering professional development, continuing education, and labor-related instruction to ANDE members. Targeted at education workers seeking skill-building and union-related education.
• Collective Bargaining Representation (Convención Colectiva with MEP) Institutional labor representation of ANDE members in negotiations and administration of the Collective Agreement (Convención Colectiva) with the Ministry of Public Education (MEP). Covers salary conditions, benefits, and statutory rights of Costa Rica's public education workforce.
• Legal Consultation Services Legal advice and representation provided to ANDE members on labor, employment, and statutory matters, supporting the union's collective bargaining and individual grievance work.
• Pension Processing Support Support service that assists ANDE members with the administration and processing of retirement pensions under Costa Rica's public education pension regime. Targeted at retiring and retired education workers.
• Recreation Centers (Centros de Recreo) and Regional Houses (Casas Regionales) Network of Centros de Recreo (recreation centers) and Casas Regionales (regional houses) operated by ANDE for member use, providing leisure, hospitality, and meeting facilities accessible to ANDE members nationwide.

Named customers1 record

Segments2 records

Ideal customer profiles1 record

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature2 records

Partnerships

Three partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.

• Ministerio de Educación Pública (MEP)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerANDE maintains a Collective Agreement (Convención Colectiva) with Costa Rica's Ministry of Public Education, which establishes labor rights protections, salary negotiations, and working conditions for all education workers represented by the union.
• Internacional de la Educación para América Latina (IE-AL)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerANDE is affiliated with Education International for Latin America, allowing participation in regional labor, educational, and union activities. This affiliation provides access to experiences from other Latin American countries and facilitates solidarity with educators facing educational crises in other nations.
• Private Universities, Clinics, and Commercial EntitiesminorOthersANDE maintains discount agreements with private universities, medical clinics, and other commercial enterprises that offer reduced prices to union members and their families.

Scale indicators2 records

Recent moves8 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• Sindicato de Educadores Costarricenses (SEC): Another major Costa Rican teachers' union representing public educators under MEP. Direct competitor for membership share, with overlapping collective bargaining jurisdiction and similar service offerings to ANDE.
• Asociación de Profesores de Segunda Enseñanza (APSE): Costa Rican secondary education teachers' association that also represents MEP workers. Competes with ANDE for secondary-level teacher membership and engages in parallel collective bargaining with the Ministry of Public Education.

Regional players

• Sindicato Nacional de Trabajadores de la Educación (SNTE): Mexico's largest teachers' union with similar structure of collective bargaining, member services, and regional chapters. Comparable in scale and operational complexity, though operating in a different national context.
• Confederación de Trabajadores de la Educación de la República Argentina (CTERA): Argentina's national teachers' union confederation representing public educators across provinces. Comparable in offering collective bargaining, legal defense, and member services to ANDE's scope, though at a national-federal scale.
• Confederação Nacional dos Trabalhadores em Educação (CNTE): Brazilian national teachers' union confederation representing public education workers. Operates with regional affiliates providing similar services (legal, training, recreation) as ANDE, on a much larger scale.

Broad incumbents

• National Education Association (NEA): The largest U.S. teachers' union with over 3 million members, offering comprehensive member services, collective bargaining, and professional development. A scaled-up analog of ANDE's mission and operating model.
• American Federation of Teachers (AFT): Major U.S. teachers' union representing educators and public employees. Comparable to ANDE in providing collective bargaining, legal services, and member benefits, though at significantly larger scale and broader scope.
• National Education Union (NEU): UK's largest education union formed through merger, offering collective bargaining, legal support, and professional development for teachers and education workers. Comparable organizational structure and member service portfolio to ANDE.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Facebookfacebook.com/pages/ANDE/...
• Xtwitter.com/ande_cr/...

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles8 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about ANDE