Adrian Askew on 'Who cares about skills in a recession?'

  

I’m delighted to have this opportunity to address today’s meeting, as the latest joint project between Connect and Unions 21 on the vital issue of skills. 

 

The recession that we’re in now is the deepest since the Second World War, and as we all know, is having a devastating impact on the whole economy. The telecoms sector has been far from immune from this, and our members have too often found themselves on the sharp end of business decisions to cut their costs. Some of the biggest headlines of job cuts have been in high profile telecoms companies and despite our best efforts, many have lost their jobs already as victims of the global credit crunch and, in some cases, as a result of some poor decision making within businesses too. The number of jobs lost would have been much, much higher had it not been for Connect working to secure the maximum possible job security for our members. Indeed, job security has been the top priority for Connect and our members in recent months.

 

That said this recession is exactly the time to care about skills too – to care about how we get out of the current situation and to look forward, building on the skills we have and considering the jobs we will do in future, and what our economy will look like. We are starting to put some work together on the ‘green skills’ that will develop, as new technologies and the need to cut carbon will require new jobs to be done in different ways. For our members, in the immediate term, increased skills can often mean protection against the risk of losing their job in difficult times, and certainly can help to mitigate against the most severe consequences if they are made redundant. The issue of skills has to be about more than this though, and we are determined to convey the message at every possible opportunity that skills development is about getting the most possible from their career as the economy continues to change and not just about clinging onto jobs that we have now. 

We all know that a skilled, motivated workforce, where skills are constantly updated and improved, is essential to business success. We all also know that our workforce here in the UK will need to develop higher level skills in order for the economy to remain competitive. We have to compete on our terms – with a highly skilled, properly paid and secure workforce. Indeed, when talking in general terms, or about other people’s businesses, then it would seem that the employers we work with universally and unconditionally accept how important skills are. They acknowledge how foolish it would be to neglect the skills and training needs of those they employ when talking theoretically. The reality is that many employers have taken the short sighted, and misguided, view that what they should do is to cut their way out of trouble. Skills training budgets are often early casualties when budgets start to be cut, despite the long term consequences that we all know will come.

 

As a union, we of course have a role in this debate, both in the good times and in the difficult times. In the good economic times of recent years, employers have made some progress in turning their focus to skills. The Government can take much credit for the improvements in the UK skills landscape that have taken place in the last decade, in particular for their role in creating and financing the Union Learning Fund – and allowing us as unions to play a full and proper role in taking learning and skills to the workplace. 

 

In terms of our own work, we are one of the leading unions in the UK in our learning and skills activity. We have a large, growing and hard working network of ULRs bringing new learning and development opportunities to workplaces across the country. Our aim is to build a culture of learning where skills are embraced as a central part of work by our members and by their employers. A welcome recent development is that we have signed a joint skills charter with O2, and it is refreshing to see that some employers remain committed to the skills issue in these difficult times. 

 

Now that we are very clearly in the not-so-good times, we are trying to ensure that employers keep their focus on up-skilling our members, and allow us to continue our good work in workplaces.   For Connect, the priority has been to deliver improved skills right up the chain and not just to focus on entry level and Level 1 skills. 

 

The focus of government has been, quite rightly, to focus on delivering functional skills to ensure that all adults have basic skills to allow them to be employed. Fortunately, most of our members have much higher level skills, but they absolutely must not be neglected in debates around skills – and we know that the jobs of the future will require much higher level skills than before. Making the case for investment in high level skills at a time when budgets are getting squeezed and some still lack basic literacy and numeracy skills is certainly not easy. However, we will continue to make that case and I would argue that this is not about taking money away from others who need it, but about building a comprehensive and joined up strategy for developing our national skills.  

 

Finally, on a topical note, last week’s Digital Britain Final Report highlighted the central, strategic importance of our industry to the future of UK industry and society. We’re positive about the report and the general direction that policy and the industry are moving in. We’re hopeful that this marks a major staging post in the delivery of a modern communications infrastructure for the UK, particularly with the commitment to delivering universal broadband. This is another prime example of where the skills of those who work in the telecoms industry will need to keep pace, to ensure that the roll-out of fast broadband is a success both for the industry and for the country. Without the skills to develop, deliver and maintain the new network, the Government’s ambitious plans will remain just that – ambitious, but they will not be realised. 

 

We need to focus both on emerging from the recession that is afflicting the UK and the global economy in the short term and, crucially, what we can do to get ourselves in shape for the challenges of the future.  I look forward to hearing your ideas and how we can continue to work on this together. Thank you.