Unions to get workers on the learning pathway

Citation

(2003), "Unions to get workers on the learning pathway", Journal of European Industrial Training, Vol. 27 No. 6. https://doi.org/10.1108/jeit.2003.00327fab.008

Unions to get workers on the learning pathway

Unions to get workers on the learning pathway

UK biscuit makers, paper-mill workers and high-speed train drivers will be given the chance to improve their skills and develop new interests with £9 million government money for new Union Learning Fund projects.

The Union Learning Fund enables unions to help workers from all sectors of the economy to benefit from learning opportunities at work, in areas ranging from information technology and languages to basic literacy and numeracy-skills training.

To be awarded funding, projects have to show how they could get more people to take up courses to improve their skills, self-confidence and employability.

The successful Union Learning Fund bids include:

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  Internet-based learning facilities at Euston Station, London, and access points across the country forrailway workers, their families and communities.

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  Improved access to learning facilities to help shift workers at a chain of paper mills in south-west England to improve literacy and numeracy skills.

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  Lifelong-learning access for staff and the community surrounding a major biscuit factory in Carlisle, Cumbria.

Giving approval for 48 new projects worth more than £9 million, the minister for young people and adult skills, Ivan Lewis, said: "These successful bids, from the sixth round of the Union Learning Fund programme, will enable members of 25 unions across England to gain access to new learning and training opportunities. This means that more unions than ever are participating and working for the benefit of their members.

"All bids were of a very high standard and will help to make lifelong learning in the workplace a reality nationwide. Through the Union Learning Fund, trade unions are playing a valuable role in giving their members opportunities to improve their skills and open up the world of learning."

Including these latest projects, the Union Learning Fund will have supported more than 400 initiatives, worth more than £30 million, since its start in 1998. The projects have been successful at reaching people who traditionally have been left out of learning opportunities, such as shift and part-time workers.