Clause 43 - Union learning representatives
Employment Bill
4:45 pm
Mr Philip Hammond (Runnymede and Weybridge, Conservative)
I find it extraordinary that the hon. Gentleman thinks it bizarre that anyone else should have a say in who should be a union learning rep but perfectly normal that someone else should pay them. I do not accept the analogy with a shop steward. Part of a shop steward's function is to represent his members—not necessarily formally, but on a daily basis—in a negotiating situation. I do not want the hon. Member for Manchester, Central to jump up and say that a shop steward's function is not always adversarial; of course it is not, but in essence it is about representing the sectional interest of the work force. That is the shop steward's job.
Of course, I acknowledge that it would be wrong for the employer to be able to pick someone whom he thought a poodle. We could have all manner of arguments about in-house staff associations, and so on, but I shall not be tempted to do so. It seems, however, that the Government are inviting us to view learning representatives as something quite different: not as representatives of a sectional interest, but as part of a broad equation that promotes learning and upskilling in the workplace. Such representatives will work not in isolation, but in good companies with established training programmes, managers and personnel. They will be a small part of a much bigger machine, working together to deliver the end product of better training and better skills in our work force. That is a role quite different from that of shop steward.
Mr. Hughes indicated dissent.