TUC brings employers and unions together to tackle productivity through skills

Employers and trade unions came together at a major conference at the TUC yesterday (Monday 28 June) to discuss the potential benefits the new network of Sector Skills Councils can bring to employees and organisations.

Employers and trades unionists from the engineering, construction, IT and audio-visual industry sectors met to identify and address the issues involved. The SSCs in these sectors are currently ’pathfinding’ the development of Sector Skills Agreements between themselves, the education and training providers, for example in further and higher education; and the funders, such as the Learning & Skills Council and the Higher Education Funding Council. When complete, Sector Skills Agreements will provide an agreed framework for the funding and delivery of skills in the UK.

Introducing the event, TUC General Secretary Brendan Barber said: This event is about sharing perspectives between employers and unions. It’s about building up trust in a mutually shared agenda. Certainly for us in the unions the issue of skills is becoming ever more important, giving increased opportunities for our members and our potential members. One way in which this is evident is from the enthusiastic engagement of unions with their new Sector Skills Councils. The SSCs are identifying learning needs and the best ways of satisfying them. The process of then hammering out credible sector skills agreements with those supplying education and training is of immense importance for the future productivity of the UK workforce.

Christopher Duff, Chief Executive of the Sector Skills Development Agency said: A key feature of Sector Skills Councils is that they are employer-led. However, our employer partners and the main employer representative organisations recognize that the SSCs exist to address the skills development needs of their sectors’ workforce as a whole and not just the interests of employers. The fact that these interests are seen as common is illustrated by today’s highly significant event, as it also is on a long term basis through the effective trade union representation on the boards of the SSCs..

Closing the conference, Ivan Lewis, Minister for Skills and Vocational Education, added: I strongly welcome this partnership of employers and unions because we simply must raise our game on skills and that means creating more of a demand-led system. That has to be founded on stronger employer commitment. Just as the 7,000 trades union learning representatives are highly successful in persuading their fellow workers of the benefits of learning, so the increasing number of employers who have seen the effect of workforce skills development on their bottom line are best placed to persuade other employers of the business case for skills.