Perhaps a committee is even more important if the company is covering all the costs. A committee is the best vehicle for getting buy-in from all levels of the organization and for promoting education and training. The message comes from co-workers not just from an external educational institution or independent trainer. Educators can rely on the committee to steer the initiative through the rough spots with their understanding of the culture of their workplace and of the supports and barriers for education at work. As Holland and others (2001) say, “There are very few programmes that are problem-free and it is important to have a forum in which to discuss these and decide strategies for overcoming them” (p. 52).

Nevertheless, a company may refuse to set up a committee and prefer to establish a one to one relationship with the educator and a staff person. In this case, the educator heads into an outreach and planning cycle with little internal support beyond management and should be aware of areas of resistance and trouble spots that might appear. Perhaps the contact person would be open to having some ‘supporters’ (workers, union representatives, supervisors) work together in the outreach and promotion phase at least. In organizations that don’t use a committee process or other procedures to promote democracy in the workplace, the workplace committee could be a hard sell. Move slowly and try to keep the door open to new ways of working together.

Equity and Access

The literature focuses on two main areas of practice: equity is respected and promoted in partnerships, and basic skills programs are accessible to all employees. Secondary focus is given to promoting diversity at the workplace and in the distribution and marketing of literacy services.

Partnership arrangements are based on equality with all interest groups participating with equal voice. The CLC (2000) and the United Food and Commercial Workers (1993) both state that unions are an equal partner in an educational initiative; if not, “just say no.” In non-unionized environments, workers on committees should be equal partners in discussions, decision-making and actions undertaken. Yet, Taylor (1998) found in his study of eighteen cases that workers wanted more decision-making opportunities, pointing to the difficulties of full participation by workers. Cichon and Sperazi (1997) also found that workers can feel less powerful in formal meetings and may not participate fully.