EMPLOYABILITY AND SECURITY IN A FLEXIBLE GLOBAL LABOUR MARKET Desperate measures for desperate times John Edmonds, general secretary of the GMB, pointed out that the idea of learner representatives was born of a desperate need for training.‘The weaknesses of the training system were so obvious, we faced such big problems in respect of basic skills that we needed some solution. We needed to find a way to guide and encourage workers back into the education and training system. Learner representatives have a great deal to offer. They are liked by employees and employers alike and I would like to see them more widely used, not just in the UK but throughout Europe.’ ‘One of the fundamental problems facing trade unions is the need to increase our membership. Here in Britain the Thatcher government and the impact of restructuring decimated unions. Their response was to recruit more representatives with all-round duties. But giving people responsibility for a single specific area has allowed us to have a variety of people dealing with issues. Together they provide each other with needed support and improve the gender balance. The learner representative model has worked well and helped us to explore training issues. They have forced unions to focus on this issue and make a top priority.’ Nevertheless, Mr Edmonds believes the trade union movement needs to take a stronger stand and a leadership role in this area, putting pressure on companies.‘Our learner representatives are becoming experts in this area. We are finding that where there are learner representatives, the company’s management structure is beginning to see them as a valuable and important resource. We hope that legislation giving learner representatives statutory rights plus government backing will further this trend and establish learner representatives throughout industry.’ Simon Dubbins, European adviser at GPMU agreed on the importance of learner representatives.‘They give us an way into companies where there is no union membership, a way into small enterprises and also into areas where the majority of the workforce is made up of women or minority ethnic groups, for example the textile and garment industry. Through learner representatives we can contact and support these women, start to improve human resources management and begin a social dialogue. Learner representatives have enabled us to bring disadvantaged and marginalised people into the union. While this is a by-product of the learner representative’s real role, it is a key by-product. Recruitment is important, particularly in areas where workers are unprotected and not represented, such as in the lower-paid industrial sectors.’ What should be on the agenda? Another British delegate took Mr Dubbins’s views a step further.‘We need to put equality back on the trade union agenda, for instance the problems women and Asians face in the workplace. But at the same time we need more members and particularly members from areas that are particularly at risk. We also find that whereas an employer’s approaches are rejected, workers welcome the learner representative’s offer of help to improve basic literacy and numeracy skills.’ Lionel Fulton of the Labour Research Department pointed out that the German system concentrates on the quality of an existing system and on provision for further technologies.‘We in Britain are using the unions to develop basic skills at the bottom of the workforce. This illustrates the different industrial structures of the two countries.’ 37 © Anglo-German Foundation for the Study of Industrial Society