Lifelong learning - a 21st Century Union challenge

The following discussion paper reflects the issues raised during the Unions 21 seminar, 'Lifelong Learning, a 21st Century Union Challenge', which took place in the House of Commons in May 2000 and was chaired by Hilary Benn MP. The speakers were Paul Mackney, General Secretary, NATFHE; Liz Smith, National Officer, TUC Learning Services; Doug Gowan, Director, Open Learning Partnership; and James Rees, Education Officer, Usdaw.

"The successful trade union will also be a learning union" Malcolm Wicks MP, the Education Minister, believes trade unions need to focus on learning if they are to thrive in the new century. This learning challenge was taken up at a Unions 21 seminar in May. The seminar posed five key questions to the trade union movement on lifelong learning issues.

Are training and reskilling union issues?
How do trade unionists want lifelong learning to work for them?
How can unions negotiate the best deal on re-skilling for their members?
Why should employers over-skill their staff?
How can lifelong learning opportunities enhance the partnership agenda?

This paper examines these questions, highlighting the key issues affecting trade unions, employers and Government, before putting forward a series of challenges to trade unionists on the issue of lifelong learning.

"Some traditionalists fail to see lifelong learning as a defining unions issue" James Rees of Usdaw believes that learning suffers from the same lack of profile which hindered the progression of health and safety onto the negotiating agenda. Is such a 'traditionalist' view tenable in the 21st Century?
In order to examine the potential importance of lifelong learning for working people, it is necessary for unions to assess where it will most have an impact. - What is the nature of work undertaken in the modern workplace? - In which areas of the economy do skills need to be improved? - What projects are already under way to ensure that learning at work flourishes? - How can the pace of change be stepped up?

The case for lifelong learning
The notion that learning is a peripheral union issue is gradually collapsing. Anyone questioning the merit of placing skills on the bargaining agenda need only look at some of the ideals behind lifelong learning that have always been at the heart of trade unionism: empowerment, respect, fulfilment at work and the quality of members' lives. Training, new skills and improved employability impact directly on the quality of working people's lives. Improved pay, new confidence and job security may well follow time spent in training. There are also advantages for employers and for the economy, namely a motivated and highly skilled workforce.

It is still the case that British workers work longer hours, less productively, than many of our European counterparts. Unfortunately, the discussion on lifelong learning can become mystified by jargon: the term 'lifelong learning' itself, the 'Learning Age', the 'learning revolution'. Yet if we look at the objectives behind these terms, they all point to the same goal: to offer the opportunity for working people to improve their skills, leading to a more fulfilling work life. Do we feel we are really living in this 'learning age'? Perhaps not yet, as the learning culture is not yet established in the workplace. But if we succeed in harnessing a culture of lifelong learning the impact on the economy, as well as on working people, will be profound.

Learning clearly benefits the individual, but it is also central to the development of the highly skilled, high wage workforce that the trade union movement as a whole has long called for. That is still quite a way off. It is estimated that one in three working people has never been offered training at work. Here we face a paradox: employers complain at the lack of skilled workers, while employees are not being offered training. Doug Gowan of the Open Learning Partnership describes this as, "the market system gone wrong." Learning at work is not just about improved performance and job satisfaction at work; it can also have an indirect, positive impact on people's lives away from the workplace. For example, someone who learns basic computer skills at work or through their union may be enabled to help their children with their homework, when previously they could not. Training in sending e-mails at work may mean someone can send regular messages to their grandchildren on the other side of the world. On top of that particular personal benefit comes a knock-on, financial benefit - sending an e-mail is far cheaper than phoning overseas.

The advantages are clear, but worth restating: training and re-skilling is a worker-friendly issue, a family friendly issue, and therefore a union issue. Who benefits from lifelong learning? A perception abounds that lifelong learning is somehow an issue that only concerns wealthier employees; that it is connected exclusively to computer courses for IT professionals. That may be the case in some workplaces at the moment, but that is not to suggest that this is the aim of lifelong learning. The concept of lifelong learning needs to be deepened and widened. 7 million UK workers have poor basic skills. This is economically disastrous - Poland is the only country in Europe that fairs worse, according to Liz Smith of the TUC. This is not the only worrying figure that underlines the skills gap we face in this country compared to our EU counterparts: Paul Mackney points out that 74% of the working population of Germany has the equivalent of two A Levels; in Britain, that figure stands at 36%. Tomorrow's best investors will not be attracted to a country with a poorly-trained workforce.

So what can trade unions do to help their members gain the sort of training and qualifications that other EU workers take for granted? Responsibility for education funding may rest with Government, but this is an issue where unions are starting to find their voice - working alongside the Government as well as developing their own strategies. Over 2,000 union reps have been trained as learning reps, articulating their members' needs for skills. What makes a good learning rep? The role of learning rep will develop as it becomes more established, but 6 key areas have been identified that all learning representatives will need to incorporate into their work.
- Promotion. Learning reps must become leading advocates of learning in the workplace: explaining the value of learning to the workforce as well as the employer.
- Strategy. A learning strategy has to be developed for the whole workplace.
- Management. Union members will need help and advice when managing their learning.
- Access. Members need to be offered convenient access to the learning they require.
- Best practice. Learning reps will need to network with other learning reps, sharing best practice.
- Recognition. It is vital that the learning is recognised, ensuring that the member's qualifications are improved, along with their employability.

Are there other ways in which the trade union movement can help to develop the learning agenda? By packaging the concept up as 'lifelong learning', do we alienate members with jargon, or do we get the message across well? Do we make the right type of approach to people? Many of the 7 million with poor basic skills will not have fond memories of education. People need to be able to see the benefits of new learning quickly. And the training received needs to feel different; enhancing rather than burdensome - to both employee and employer. It is important that the learning on offer is clear, i.e. people need to know what they are undertaking, and what they will get out of it.

Some unions are already utilising new technology to offer their members courses via the Internet. For example, the Musicians' Union, whose members are often self-employed, has offered courses in some of the book-keeping and other skills required by the self-employed over the Internet. Work is being transformed by technology. While it is easy to overstate the case, it is without doubt that information technology now plays a significant role in most working people's lives. To ignore this fact is to bury our heads in the sand.

Putting to one side for a moment discussion of the internet revolution, technology has transformed the way we work, from the tools on our desks to the machinery in our hands. If working people adapt new skills to emerging challenges, it is surely right that their union pushes for those working people to receive recognition for developing such new skills.

Learning through partnership
Learning is an issue on which unions can work in partnership with the Government and employers to secure the best deal for their members. With unemployment low and strong indications of a return to full employment, it is in the interest of employers that they keep morale high at the workplace. This is not a question of over-skilling workers, it is a question of developing staff and ensuring their retention. For its part, the Government requires a skilled workforce to achieve the best investment into Britain. Such an agenda offers a series of opportunities for the trade union movement. Trade unions will of course push to make the learner central to the process, but if unions are seen to be delivering real improvements to people's lives, the knock-on effect in terms of recruitment may also prove considerable.

How can we start to develop a 'culture of learning'? The Government has introduced some schemes in the workplace and the trade union movement. The Union Learning Fund provides trade unions with the opportunity to bid for funding and deliver learning to their members. Individual Learning Accounts provide funds to working people to undertake training - these learning accounts are open to contributions from the employer, the Government and the learners themselves. The University for Industry aims to provide training to people throughout the workforce in a way that can be easily accessed - for example over the Internet.

The new regional Learning and Skills Councils will oversee all post-school, non-higher education funding from September, offering trade unions the opportunity to get involved in the delivery of training at a regional level. Statutory system The Unions 21 seminar on lifelong learning saw all key speakers agree that there needs to be a statutory system to recognise the importance of learning at work, including paid leave for learning reps. James Rees of Usdaw spoke of his own union's 'two-pronged approach' to the issue, where they called for a statutory system, but in the mean time developed their approach to lifelong learning.

The second stage of this process is vital, as the trade union movement needs to prove it is ready to meet the lifelong learning challenges that we will face in the next decade and beyond. Unions are addressing the challenges brought about by the Government's determination to develop a culture of lifelong learning. Learning reps are being trained, lobbying continues on the status of learning and unions are playing a full role in the government-funded programmes for lifelong learning. All this is building the learning agenda at work. However, there are still some tough questions that need to be addressed.

Lifelong learning. How is it for you?
Lifelong learning is central to more and more unions' activities; the next challenge is to ensure that it reaches down into all areas of the workforce. This raises a series of challenges - for the Government and employers; and crucially for trade union officials and members alike. How well is the learning message reaching down into trade union branches? Does your branch have a learning rep? If not, why not? Would your employer negotiate a learning agreement? Would members of your branch want to receive training? What can you offer to those who do not wish to receive training? Would someone in your branch be ready to take on the role of learning rep? Is this issue seen as an area where your union can make a difference? Do you feel ready to tackle the cynicism that may come from your members? The challenge to every branch member is significant. But the challenges do not stop at trade union level. Has the message on lifelong learning failed to reach one of its targets - working people with poor basic skills? Can unions define a role for themselves in this aspect as key advocates of lifelong learning? Can unions open up learning centres to be used by those with poor basic skills and the socially-excluded? This final challenge opens up a new area of challenges for the trade union movement. Can unions develop the learning agenda to entrench their role in the community as a stakeholder for progress in the community?

To fully appreciate the potential impact of lifelong learning for working people, it is worth considering what would happen if the learning agenda were ignored: the potential for improved employability would disappear; any boost for job security would fall away; and potential life improvements would not materialise. Happily, that is not going to happen. Lifelong learning is here and now; the trade union movement now has the opportunity to drive the process forwards.

The learning challenge
The lifelong learning agenda offers the trade union movement the opportunity to help deliver training at work, which can enhance members' lives at work and at home. This learning challenge has taken hold among all trade unions. The following five challenges pose some of the major issues that all trade unionists must face if we are to play a part in ensuring that learning is to reach throughout the trade union movement and throughout the world of work.

ONE. Consult your members on their learning needs. If you want to develop a learning agenda in your workplace, it is useful to know what the level of demand is, and what kind of learning people want. A consultation process also offers the opportunity to tackle any scepticism that may exist on the union's role in the learning process - from management and from members. Once the consultation process is complete, unions need to lead the discussion on workplace learning, identifying people's needs for basic and key skills, whether it is reading skills, basic computer skills, communication skills, teamwork skills or other skills that may be identified. The next stage is to identify the right sort of training to meet peoples needs.

TWO. Ensure there is a union learning representative in your workplace. Does your branch have a learning rep? If not, raise this as an issue at your next meeting. Perhaps you, or someone else in your branch will be keen to take on the role of learning rep. Once you have a learning rep, it is vital that they are fully supported: make sure they do a TUC training course - such courses can be completed via distance learning if necessary. It is also vital that learning reps should contact their union education officers and regional Bargaining for Skills units to discuss support available for their role. Your learning rep needs to feel ready to start helping people with their training needs - learning reps should not be left to feel isolated.

THREE. Put training on your branch's negotiating agenda. Does your union negotiate on training opportunities for employees in your workplace? If not, ask for it to be raised at your next meeting with management. In particular, unions in workplaces with Investors in People (IiP) status can look to take advantage of their rights to consultation under IiP. Working alongside a supportive employer, you may be able to negotiate a coherent training strategy that benefits the entire workforce.

FOUR. Improve communications with your members, regarding the learning opportunities available. Do you produce a newsletter or an e-mail bulletin for your members on a regular basis? If so, introduce a 'learning update' section, informing members of their rights to training, any training developments in the pipeline, or any success stories that the learning strategy has delivered. Also, make sure people at work understand that learning pays, i.e. training can lead to a higher salary and improved employability. Finally, have you looked at your union's website lately? Could more information be offered through your site?

FIVE. Incorporate lifelong learning into your organising and recruitment strategy. If you succeed in developing a learning strategy for your workplace, you might find that it helps you recruit new members at your place of work. Many unions have already found that enabling people to use computers has directly led to the recruitment of new members. A good example of this is the European Driving Licence for Computers - an interactive computer programme for beginners, which has been very successful in giving trade unionists computer skills and is increasingly popular with employers, because employees can do it during their own time. Once you have developed such a strategy, make sure that people are told about what their entitlements are and who their learning rep is.