Tony Huzzard
Professor emeritus
Unions, the Skills Agenda and Workforce Development
Author
Editor
- John Buchanan
- David Finegold
- Ken Mayhew
- Chris Warhurst
Summary, in English
This chapter explores the relationship between unions and skills at the workplace. We argue that the significance of the skills agenda is broadly concomitant with a shift in the labour process beyond mass production into newer trajectories, variously described as post-Fordism, post-industrialism, flexible specialization and new production concepts. Unions are increasingly equating their members’ learning (and skills) as much as with enhancing their employability as with broader emancipation or entry into a trade. Through focusing on the contrasting cases of the UK and Sweden we show how the recent pursuit of the skills agenda has gone hand in hand with a strategic reorientation of unions, in response to more challenging bargaining environments and a declining membership base. We also argue that different approaches by unions to skills can be explained not only by national and sectoral factors but also by agency and voice mechanisms.
Department/s
- Department of Business Administration
Publishing year
2016-11
Language
English
Publication/Series
Oxford Handbook on Skills and Training
Document type
Book chapter
Publisher
Oxford University Press
Topic
- Business Administration
Keywords
- unions
- skills
- employability
- agency
- new production regimes
- UK
- Sweden
Status
Published
ISBN/ISSN/Other
- ISBN: 9780199655366