Union Learning Reps


A union learning representative (ULR) is a member of an independent trade union, recognised by their employer, and elected by their union in the workplace. ULRs in recognised workplaces have a statutory right to paid time off to train (see Chapter 4).


Since the Employment Act 2002, ULRs have had the right to take reasonable paid time off work to perform their duties. Originally conceived as learning mentors providing information, advice and guidance to colleagues, today these duties cover:


• analysing learning or training needs;


• arranging and supporting learning and training;


• consulting the employer about carrying out such activities;


• preparing to carry out the above activities.


The work can also extend to accessing funds to support learning activities; establishing partnerships with external training providers; developing workplace learning resources, such as learning centres; and negotiating learning agreements with single or groups of employers. 


Research on the impact of ULRs has shown that, where learning agreements are in place, employers are significantly more likely to engage in a wide range of staff development practices, and that ULF projects and ULRs have been central in promoting workplace learning. 


A 2013 survey from Leeds University found that:


• employers with a ULF project were more likely to be engaged in learning;


• although very few employers conducted a cost-benefit analysis, 74% felt they got a positive return on their investment in union learning;


• two-thirds of employers reported increased demand from employees, especially from those with little history of involvement in learning;


• employers reported that staff morale, staff turnover and levels of trust had increased;


• ULRs and union learning project workers were seen as highly valuable as a means of raising awareness of and demand for skills; and


• union learning engages learners from all backgrounds.


The degree of employer engagement depended on four factors:


• involvement in ULF;


• the extent to which employers valued ULRs;


• the extent to which employers valued ULF; and


• the apparatus that had been established to support union learning activity. 


In 2013, unionlearn decided to make the learning and skills agenda central to union and employer workplace activity by mainstreaming it within the Stage 1 Union Representatives’ Course (the shop stewards’ programme) “to avoid a marginalisation of this work during times very different to those in which the role was conceived and developed”.


TUC Education launched the programme in 2013 with a particular focus on embedding the key elements of the ULR role “to make the most of union strengths at a time when union resources are at a premium”. This meant that an additional 1,565 ULRs were trained in 2013, and 2014 produced a slightly higher number of 1,741. A further 749 ULRs were trained on the five-day programme, (making 2,490 new trained ULRs) and 571 progressed to the Stage 2 programme, making a total of 3,061 ULRs accessing training in 2014. 


However, the TUC reports that the total numbers of ULRs trained over the past few years reflects particular difficulties related to the ULR role “which have been exacerbated by the economic and employment relations climate and the need for unions to prioritise pressing industrial problems at the expense of this agenda”. Release for training is becoming more difficult to obtain despite the underpinning rights (see Chapter 4).