Union And WorkPlace Learning

Union and the Workplace Learning

The paid workplace is one of the most important spheres of learning in society today. However, the learning that goes on this sphere can be understood from at least two different perspectives: that of management and owners on the one hand, and that of workers and their organizations on the other. In fact, workplace learning represents a contested terrain of social, political and economic struggle. The purpose of trade unions is to represent the interests and worldview of the diversity of workers, and its goals in terms of workplace learning can be seen as overlapping as well as in opposition to those of management. Unions represent these interests by providing organizational, and, in most liberal democracies, legal frameworks for workers to mobilize around issues they themselves deem important. The labour movement, more generally, is comprised of the trade union movement, the co-operative movement and workers’ political parties. Within this stream of movements, trade unions in particular have incredible capacity to shape the character and experience of learning at work through course provision, collective bargaining and other forms of intervention. Unions also play an important role in shaping training and vocational education policy at various sectoral, national and, more recently, international levels (in many cases with the help of established workers’ political parties). Perhaps most pervasively of all, however, unions can and frequently do play an important role in shaping the everyday experiences of workers within the labour process, through specific information and action campaigns, as well as through their effects on learning through mass media, literature, drama and art.

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