Sector Skills Councils: a toolkit for trade unionists
Contributing data and intelligence on workplace skills
Prospect has developed a website for all trade unionists with an interest in the SSCs in which Prospect has an interest in order to build a collective union input. www.unionskillsforum.org.uk
Co-ordinating activity ‘vertically’ between Board members, officials and workplace reps
As highlighted above, SSC coordinators in individual unions are playing a vital role in a number of unions. As well as coordinating SSC activities within the union, they are also making the links with national and regional officers with a range of responsibilities that relate to SSC sectors/footprint – e.g. by highlighting the impact on the development of the union learning agenda and the wider industrial relations agenda at the sector level.
Co-ordinating activity between unions in the same SSC ‘footprint’
In a number of cases unions that have interests in the same SSC are able to develop their dialogue on their common interest via a union federation. For example, the Federation of Entertainment Unions (FEU) has been a key mechanism enabling BECTU, Equity and the NUJ to develop their shared contribution to the work of Skillset. However, where no such federation exists, unions and the TUC have been endeavouring to establish union networks to fulfil this function, in particular around the SSCs that are taking forward the first SSAs.
Prioritising union activity: where do unions add most value?
One way to address the problem of resourcing the requirements of SSC working is to focus on priority activities; areas where the union can add most value to the work of the SSC, and activities of the SSC that can add the most value to the work of the union. There is no fixed formula for this as the interests of each union and focus of each SSC will vary. We suggest that each union reviews the discussion and areas for action highlighted in Sections 5 and 6 of this guide and prioritise the activity that your union should be involved in.
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