Case study: UCU reps at South Thames College create the Greener Jobs Alliance

The Greener Jobs Alliance was set up by the UCU university and college union to campaign for a national skills strategy to deliver a low carbon economy.

The union believes green investment could provide the boost the economy desperately needs.

The union joined forces with South Thames College to show how an further education college and a trade union can promote the development of green jobs and skills by working with community organisations. The union hopes to not only influence national skills policy, but also to develop demonstrator projects in local areas to inspire students to want to work in the energy saving sector, and to give them the opportunity to gain the skills needed for the low carbon economy.

As demand for low carbon training is not as strong as it should be to justify significant investment in curriculum development, the UCU South Thames College branch worked with the college and other local organisations to promote low carbon training to local employers to create more demand.

It also created links with local community organisations working on sustainable development in the two London boroughs where South Thames College has a campus — Merton and Wandsworth.

The alliance also sought to initiate opportunities for the college students, such as those in the construction school, to experience work with local organisations that would be involved in delivering the Green Deal — the government initiative aiming to improve the energy efficiency of household and business properties. So far students in heating and ventilation and electrical installation have worked with local employers by joining them on a home energy visit and installing photovoltaic systems in a private household.

As a result of the project, one tutor from the Construction School is attending a five day training course with Parity Projects, a local energy conservation consultancy, to learn how to deliver a short course programme on energy efficiency measures.

The alliance also produced training materials, including a video to be used on a range of Education for Sustainable Development courses and meetings.

Overall the project offered a practical demonstration of community trade unionism and illustrated how a UCU branch can link environmental action with the future job prospects of staff and students.

The video can be seen at: www.youtube.com/watch?v=VNRx6tNFG8U