Bargaining Basic Skills - What Unions Should Know About Negotiating Worker-Centred Literacy Programs

SECTION 1 Six good reasons to bargain basic skills

Jobs are less secure. Hardly a day goes by without news of major plant closings, layoffs or mergers and takeovers. Only about 1 in 3 of the new jobs created in 1998 was a permanent, full-time, paid job. An astounding 57 per cent of jobs created fore women in 199 8were part- time.
New developments in information technologies and ways of working require new skills.
Studies confirm that more education is generally linked to a lower rate of unemployment for any group of working people.

Further workplace training is often done through computers and information technology, or requires high basic skills.Many jobs now demand that workers use computers. Basic skills are often an essential first step.
Surveys indicate that workers who have more education receive more workplace training. This means that union members who have less formal education are often excluded from employer-provided training. Unions have to fight against this bias and for programs that ensure all members have access to training.
Many older union members and some younger ones left school early or have skills they've rarely had the chance to use. Their basic skills may need upgrading.
Many unions have a high percentage of new Canadian members whose first language is neither English nor French. Immigrant workers often have difficulty with official language reading, writing and communication skills, although they may be highly literate in. their mother tongue.

Union basic skills programs can give members greater job security and greater portability of job skills by:

Providing members with the skills to pass licensing or certification tests.
Equipping members to take advantage of other training programs offered by the employer and/or the union in the workplace.
Giving members the foundation to access further education outside the workplace.