2017 Trade union involvement in skills development: an international review Jeff Bridgford School of Education, Communication and Society, King’s College London Copyright Copyright © International Labour Organization 2017 First published (2017) Publications of the International Labour Office enjoy copyright under Protocol 2 of the Universal Copyright Convention. Nevertheless, short excerpts from them may be reproduced without authorization, on condition that the source is indicated. For rights of reproduction or translation, application should be made to ILO Publications (Rights and Licensing), International Labour Office, CH-1211 Geneva 22, Switzerland, or by email: [email protected]. The International Labour Office welcomes such applications. Libraries, institutions and other users registered with a reproduction rights organization may make copies in accordance with the licences issued to them for this purpose. 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Information on ILO publications and digital products can be found at: www.ilo.org/publns. Trade Union Involvement in Skills Development- 1 Foreword The primary goal of the ILO is to achieve full and productive employment and decent work for all, including women and young people, a goal that has now been widely adopted by the international community. Working towards this goal is the fundamental aim of the ILO. As a tripartite organization, the ILO regularly engages with worker organisations on a range of issues related to employability and skills in general. This report seeks to improve our understanding of the involvement of trade unions in the domain of TVET and skills development at the national, sectoral and enterprise levels. It does this through case studies of ten countries at different stages of development and with different traditions of unionism and social dialogue. This publication reflects a joint effort by the Skills and Employability Branch (SKILLS) and Bureau for Workers Activities (ACTRAV) of the International Labour Organisation (ILO). This collaboration has documented current practices with the intention of supporting workers organisations so they can take part in the development of national, sectoral and enterprise skills policies and by providing them with advice, tools and training courses to enable them to do so. The development and analysis of the country case studies adds to the limited literature on the topic, especially in relation to developing countries where social dialogue and collective bargaining are often weak. As many countries continued to reform their skills development systems, the involvement of social partners in the governance and coordination of skills systems has taken on greater importance, and the range of practices documented in this report will hopefully provide good examples of the positive contribution that workers organisations can make to education and training systems for the benefit of workers, enterprises and the community more broadly. Girma Agune Chief ILO Skills & Employability Branch Geneva Trade Union Involvement in Skills Development- 2 Acknowledgements The report and literature review were prepared by Jeff Bridgford from the School of Education, Communication and Society in King’s College London with guidance and inputs from Paul Comyn, Senior Skills and Employability Specialist at the ILO in Geneva. The case studies were prepared by: - Argentina - Gustavo Gandara - Bangladesh - T.I.M. Nurunnabi Khan - Brazil - Gustavo Gandara - Morocco - Ahmed Bouharrou - Oman - Myriam Massaad - Philippines - Mary Ann Mendoza - Senegal - S.A.R. Mbaye - South Africa – Carmel Marock - Sweden - Lars Magnusson - United Kingdom - Jonathan Winterton Trade Union Involvement in Skills Development- 3 Contents Introduction ................................................................................................................................ 5 Literature review ...................................................................................................................... 10 At the national multi-sectoral level .......................................................................................... 10 Multi-sector collective agreements ................................................................................... 13 Tri-partite training strategies ............................................................................................ 14 At the sectoral level .......................................................................................................... 14 Sectoral bodies .................................................................................................................. 14 Collective agreements ....................................................................................................... 16 At the enterprise level .............................................................................................................. 17 Works Councils ................................................................................................................ 17 Collective agreements ....................................................................................................... 17 Union Learning Representatives ...................................................................................... 18 Typology of interventions and cross-case analysis .................................................................. 20 At the national multi-sectoral level .................................................................................. 20 At the sectoral level .......................................................................................................... 22 At the enterprise level ....................................................................................................... 24 Key Findings and Recommendations ...................................................................................... 26 Selected Bibliography .............................................................................................................. 33 Annex 1: Case studies ............................................................................................................ 36 Bangladesh ............................................................................................................................... 37 Brazil ........................................................................................................................................ 56 Morocco ................................................................................................................................... 69 Oman ........................................................................................................................................ 85 The Philippines ...................................................................................................................... 101 Senegal ................................................................................................................................... 123 South Africa ........................................................................................................................... 133 Sweden ................................................................................................................................... 162 United Kingdom..................................................................................................................... 171 Trade Union Involvement in Skills Development- 4 Introduction The objective of the study is to conduct an international review of trade union involvement in skills development, incorporating new research from 10 country case studies, which will examine the involvement of trade unions at the system, sector and enterprise levels, including the extent to which these unions have bargained for skills development from a rights-based perspective. For the purposes of this study, skills development is defined as the full range of formal and non-formal vocational, technical and skills-based education and training for employment and/or self-employment. In keeping with international trends, skills development includes: pre- employment and livelihood skills training, including vocational education and training and apprenticeships; education and training for employed workers, including workplace training; and employment-oriented and job-related short courses (ILO. 2012). The focus in this study is on the ways in which trade unions can better engage with issues related to skills development, as part of Technical and Vocational Education and