Trade unions and the training of health and safety representatives

Abstract

Examines the provision of trade union training for health and safety representatives in the UK. Bases research on a 1995 European survey of provisions for education and training in health and safety offered by trade unions in eight European countries and allows for some inter‐country comparisons. Focuses on some of the influences that have helped to shape provision including the introduction of new legislative provisions for employee representation. Describes developments in Britain with reference to the TUC Regional Education Programme, sources of funding and the likely impact of new legislation extending representative rights in health and safety to all employees. Shows that trade unions make an important contribution to health and safety training, particularly through the TUC Regional Education Programme. In Britain as in other European countries, training is identified as an important supportive factor in promoting the effectiveness of employee health and safety representatives. It is possible to identify a common pedagogy of trade union education in health and safety whose characteristics are applicable internationally and which may be linked to effective actions by health and safety representatives in their workplaces.

Making a Difference

“…These findings are consistent with the research literature on the effectiveness of health and safety committees in that they emphasize the importance of training, management responsiveness, and communication (Walters, 1996c;Lewchuk, Robb and Walters, 1996). At the same time, we acknowledge the concerns expressed by some analysts that activists who focus their energies around scientific and technical discourses may be muted and confined in their agendas and impact (Sass, 1996: 356).…”

“…We acknowledge that this study is limited both by its sample size and its reliance on unionized worker representatives. Our findings may also not generalize across other national and industrial contexts, although we suspect they will, given the many similar legislative, technical and corporate conditions in other jurisdictions (Saksvik and Quinlan, 2003;Walters, 1996c). Further research is also needed to confirm the existence of the different forms of representation identified here and the claim that they have different impacts on working conditions.…”

“…Further research is also needed to confirm the existence of the different forms of representation identified here and the claim that they have different impacts on working conditions. Still, mirroring the suggestions of Rosskam (2001) and others (Walters, 1996c), we suggest tentatively that unions should begin to discuss ways of developing collective bargaining, networking and training mechanisms that provide worker representatives with the resources, skills, and frameworks that encourage both a political orientation and a knowledge activist capacity. Le cadre théorique se situe dans la perspective de la « politique de production », c'est-à-dire que nous étudions le recours stratégique aux appareils politiques de production par les parties dans la relation d'emploi (Burawoy, 1985;Russell, 1999;Walters, 1985).…”

“…As we further examined the accounts of politically-active representatives, we realized that there were important differences in the kinds of knowledge they used and the ways they used that knowledge, that is, we began to recognize that some representatives were making much more explicit, active, and effective use of indigenous, technical, and legal knowledge in order to identify hazardous conditions and substantiate their claims for improvements (Bryce and Manga, 1985;Walters, 1996aWalters, , 1996bWalters, , 1996c. Representatives who displayed this approach distinguished themselves by their active and autonomous pursuit of specialized knowledge and information-knowledge they then used to identify hazards, to assess risk, and most significantly, to strategically and tactically achieve changes.…”

Advancing Gender Equality: The Role of Women‐Only Trade Union Education

“…Turning now to briefly consider the substance of courses, union education employs a specific pedagogical model, the essential features of which are use of participants' own experiences, an orientation towards collective action, and an emphasis on shared understandings, knowledge and definitions (Walters, 1996). This model has particular salience within womenonly education, as it affords the opportunity for women participants to inject their own gendered experiences and develop gendered understandings of trade union issues.…”