TUAC heads to the OECD Skills Summit, holds joint OECD workshop on Skills Systems

Days after the OECD Skills Summit in Porto, a joint TUAC and OECD Centre for Skills workshop will be held at the OECD  on 2 July 2018 . The event intends to facilitate exchanges amongst TUAC and OECD members, the OECD Secretariat and invited guests on the governance of tertiary and adult training systems, trade union roles and policy challenges for the future of work. Find more information under related content.

In its comments to the Summit and in light of the OECD Skills Strategy revision (download below), TUAC stresses the importance of quality formal education for all as a basis on which lifelong learning must be built. This basis needs to be stronger than before because of the probable soaring needs for re- and up-skilling. Workers are faced with numerous transformations in the labour market due to the ongoing digital transformation, the phasing out of carbon-heavy industries – along with demographic changes and changes to pension systems. Especially in this context, learning capabilities need to be developed across all age and social groups. Training must be part of just transition frameworks for working people to enable dynamic and rewarding career pathways. Policy makers and social partners need to strive to understand how the workplace really learns and how skills are being certified and used – also in regard to informal learning.

Policy silos need to be broken up to ensure that innovation and energy policies consider employment and skills aspects and vice versa. The same applies to ensuring policy coherence between OECD work on skills and training with the revised OECD Jobs Strategy, the Inclusive Growth Framework and the Going Digital Horizontal Project.

Enabling equal access to education and training; designing quality and future oriented programmes; ensuring effective and shared financing and implementation are crucial factors. They need to be led by governance systems that include both social partners and give legal rights and resources to trade unions to support workers at the national, sector and firm level. Trade unions are particularly well-placed to:

• • Identify the education, training and other skill-development measures that workers need the most;
  • Negotiate pay and working time for training;
  • Raise their members’ awareness of the availability of these measures; and
  • In some cases, deliver some of these services directly.