Trade unions have a long history of providing learning for their members. After years of decline this flourished after the 1997-2010 Labour government introduced the Union Learning Fund and legal rights for union learning representatives. This article reviews that extraordinary renaissance and discusses how a new Labour government could learn the…

This paper explores trade union collective voice as a mechanism for worker participation in training decision making. New Zealand is an example of a liberal market economy (LME) with relatively weak regulatory pressure on employers to engage in training. Consequently, drivers such as trade union collective voice could fill an important role in…

Context: COVID-19 poses major challenges for vocational education and training (VET), as VET--in contrast to general education--is closely linked to the economic system and cannot escape the impact of current economic restrictions. Additionally, strict infection control regulations, as well as temporary school and company closures, inhibit the…

This report explores the links between trade unions and workplace training, and the potential benefits of social partnership in the skills system. The UK is relatively unusual in having no formal role for trade unions in the training system. In most advanced economies, trade unions and employers work alongside government in shaping the skills…

Purpose: This paper aims to explore the challenges facing Irish organisations in the training and development of non-Irish workers. It analyses the importance of fluency in the host country's language and the approach taken by organisations in relation to language training. In-depth semi-structured interviews provide significant insights for the…

Sectoral levelling funds are an arrangement aimed at alleviating a well-known theoretical problem of underinvestment in worker training because of free-rider behaviour of firms. In the Netherlands, collective agreements require firms to participate in such funds in a number of sectors. Using a comprehensive dataset of Dutch firms, we attempt to…

Anderson (1980) and Harris's (2000) examinations of the history of workplace learning and training in the United States highlight issues of power and control in the determination of what training is provided to workers. This paper reviews these two texts and considers the implications of a constructivist paradigm in addressing the dilemmas of…

Relatively little is known about how unions affect employers because of a lack of data and research at the level of the firm. The little evidence available suggests that the effects are complex and go well beyond the effects associated with higher wages. In particular, a better understanding of the role that unions play in providing training and…

Employer-sponsored recurrent (or lifelong) learning has grown from its World War II beginnings to become a large, important, but little-studied aspect of American education, one with major implications for the U.S. economy and society. U.S. employers spend from 20 to 100 billion dollars on educational programs for anywhere from 37 to 73 million…

The nine papers in this volume represent a majority of the presentations at a conference that examined in detail employee development (ED) initiatives from Europe and North America. An introduction provides a contextual background to the vocational training and education debates characterizing policy development in the European and North American…

Significant developments in Spanish vocational education are National Program of Vocational Education and Training; 1992 National Agreement on Continuing Training by employers and unions, which established mechanisms for public funding of training; and a second agreement in 1996, which extended the beneficiaries of training and promoted…

Discusses the Handicapped Placement Program of the AFL-CIO Human Resources Development Institute and its success in placing 1,900 disabled people. Points out the need for educational programs about what the unions can do for disabled job seekers. (Disabled USA, President's Committee on Employment of the Handicapped, Washington, DC 20210) (JOW)

The Communications, Energy, and Paperworkers Union of Canada assessed literacy learning needs. In focus group discussions, members were asked their perception of such needs in the face of changes in the workplace and society; local union officers (LUOs) were asked how they saw the role of unions in supporting members' literacy learning; employers…

This document studies the role of unions and management in vocational training in France. Through an analysis of existing and historical structures governing cooperation and coordination between the social partners and the public bodies responsible for vocational education and training, an in-depth investigation was carried out and proposals for…

This document studies the role of unions, management, and education agencies (the social partners) in vocational education and training in the United Kingdom. Through an analysis of existing and historical structures governing cooperation and coordination between the social partners and the public bodies responsible for vocational education and…