Learning with Trade Unions

This edited collection provides an understanding of the range of learning that is enabled by trade unions, and the agendas around that learning. It comes at an important time as, in the UK, recent years have seen significant new opportunities for unions' involvement in the government's learning and skills policy. At the same time, trade unions have had to cope with declining membership and changing employment patterns, and thus have a keen interest in defining their role in contemporary employment relations and in pursuing strategies for union renewal. Therefore, in order to explore these dynamics, a strong feature of the book is its drawing together of informed, research-based contributions from the fields of training, skills and education, and of industrial relations. International and historical perspectives are included in order to better understand the contemporary issues. There are important conclusions for policy-makers, practitioners and researchers.

Steve Shelley is Principal Lecturer in Human Resource Management, Centre for Research in Employment Studies, University of Hertfordshire Business School, UK. Moira Calveley is Senior Research Fellow in the Centre for Research in Employment Studies, University of Hertfordshire Business School, UK.

Contents: Foreword, Brendan Barber; Section I Union Learning: Setting the Scene: Introduction, Steve Shelley and Moira Calveley; An historical overview of trade union involvement in education and learning, Moira Calveley; Trade union learning in the international context, Moira Calveley; Tackling the UK skills problem: can unions make a difference?, Caroline Lloyd and Jonathan Payne. Section II Union Learning: Actions and Outcomes: A beneficial combination? Learning opportunities from union involvement in career and pay progression, Anne McBride and Stephen Mustchin; Have laptop, will travel: case studies in union learning, David Wray; The outcomes and usefulness of union learning, Steve Shelley; Becoming visible? Notes on work, union learning and education, Keith Forrester. Section III Union Learning and Union Renewal: Integrating learning into workplace bargaining. Case studies of evolving trade union learning agreements, Mark Stuart and Emma Wallis; The longer-term influence of women-only trade union schools, Gill Kirton; Multiple partnerships in trade union learning, Steve Shelley. Section IV Developing a Future Agenda: Globalisation and trade union education, John Stirling; New developments in union learning, Liz Rees; Towards a future agenda in union learning: developing a sustainable distinctiveness, Steve Shelley and Moira Calveley; Index.