Clause 43 - Union learning representatives
Employment Bill
9:45 am
Mr Philip Hammond (Runnymede and Weybridge, Conservative)
I am grateful for the hon. Gentleman's support. His amendment, No. 198, seeks to achieve a similar objective to amendment No. 216. We are talking about general principles. The key issue is that trade union learning reps can play a valuable and important role in appropriate circumstances. It is self-evident that appropriate circumstances are those in which relationships between the union, work force and management are such that union learning reps can be an effective part of an overall training programme. It is not clear that it would be good to impose an ideal situation by statute on a sub-ideal working environment. No doubt the Minister could take hon. Members to dozens of companies to show them union learning reps in action as an integral and effective part of company training programmes, but that does not mean that imposing such a model on a business in which relationships between management and unions are adversarial—harking back to the old days—would achieve the same benefits.