Pay for union learning reps

Union learning representatives are to have a legal right to paid release

from work, education and employment secretary David Blunkett has

announced. The proposal will be included in a wide-ranging skills and

training package to be outlined in the Labour Party's election

manifesto.

The proposal will please trade unions who have been developing and

training learning reps with support from the £10 million Union

Learning Fund set up by the Department for Education and Employment

(DfEE) in 1997. The TUC says there are now 2,000 workplace learning reps

whose role is to encourage and advise workers on education and training

opportunities and negotiate access and facilities with employers.

Blunkett's decision to give them the right to paid release from work to

carry out this function stems from his belief that they can become

"footsoldiers" for raising skill standards and "workplace experts" on

skills issues.

Other planned measures include an apprenticeship place for all 16 and

17-year-olds in an attempt to attract some of the estimated 100,000 in

this age group who every year drop out of education and do not go into

employment.

Labour has also made clear its intention to promote a voluntary training

levy from industry in sectors hit by skills shortages, ending

speculation that Labour might return to the idea of an enforced general

training levy on employers. "The government has ruled out any moves to

restore the old training levy, which ... was no longer relevant in an

era of the growth of small and medium-sized businesses," said Blunkett.