Work-based learning money put in Union hands

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A £15 million fund will be transferred to the Trades Union Congress (TUC) today to further the training and development of employees.

Secretary of State for Education Alan Johnson will today attend the final Union Learning Fund conference to officially transfer the budget, in recognition of the thousands of employees who have benefited from courses highlighted by the influential Union Learning Representatives (ULRs).

unionlearn Director Liz Smith, who writes regularly for FE News, said: “The transfer of the Union Learning Fund is a vote of confidence in unionlearn’s ability to administer it in a fair and effective way. This is not new money from the government, but an existing fund designated for union learning, which aims to upskill employees in the workplace to fight the UK’s current skills crisis”.

Today’s conference will also see the signing of a new agreement between the Open University (OU) and unionlearn, which will offer a 10% discount on OU courses for “over six and a half million union members”.

“With more than a third of employers refusing to train their staff, unions have a vital role in bridging that gap”, she added.

“We welcome Alan Johnson to the conference. He will learn of our successes in workplace learning that have been achieved through the dedication of nearly 15,000 Union Learning Reps”.

“Success has also come from the supportive environments created by those employers who recognise that better skilled workers mean a more successful workplace”.

Vijay Pattni.

Related FE News articles:

TUC Calls For Greater Govt Intervention – 06/10/06

Alan Johnson Speaks to unionlearn – 06/09/06

6 Million People Have Literacy Problems – 04/09/06

8 Million Workers Denied Training, TUC Say – 04/09/06

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