Direct Request (CEACR) - adopted 1988, published 75th ILC session (1988)

Further to its previous direct request the Committee has taken note of the Government's comments on the observation submitted by the Trades Union Congress (TUC) concerning the application of the Convention.

The TUC states that it does not share the Government's view that "voluntarism and collective bargaining constitute the most effective means of applying the Convention" because of the employers' widespread resistance to releasing staff for education and training. In the TUC's opinion the lack of an explicit government policy to promote the granting of paid educational leave and the cut down on adult education spending restrict adults' education and training opportunities and it is therefore considering the need for statutory support for the principles embodied in the Convention.

As far as paid educational leave for trade union education is concerned the TUC observes that both section 27 of the Employment Protection (Consolidation) Act of 1978 and codes of practice restrict the rights to leave to officials of independent trade unions and the legislation provides that paid educational leave be extended only for courses which are relevant to the carrying out of industrial relations duties. Furthermore, it points out that the Government's intention to limit the range of duties for which time off with pay must be allowed to the scope of union recognition by the employer would restrict trade union representatives' access to education by removing part of their current entitlement to paid educational leave.

In its comments the Government stresses that the purpose of recent reduction of financial support for adult education by university extra-mural departments (EMDs) and the Workers' Educational Association (WEA) has been to provide these bodies with an incentive to operate more responsively and cost-effectively, and not to bring about a reduction in overall provision. Local education authorities (LEAs) were called upon to provide savings in adult education expenditure but rate support grant settlements in recent years have been designed to enable the great majority of LEAs to maintain and even improve their service. The Government adds that these forms of liberal or non-vocational provision do not represent the whole of adult continuing education and the number of persons above 21 taking non-advanced courses in colleges of further education has been rising very rapidly in recent years.

The Government adds that through its Professional, Industrial, and Commercial Updating (PICKUP) programmes it intends to increase the number of employees taking vocational updating training in colleges and universities and that available figures on such courses show that the employer attitudes mentioned by the TUC are beginning to change. Consequently the Government maintains its view that direct action to promote paid educational leave must at present take second place to more pressing priorities within the field of continuing education, and that there are insufficient grounds for abandoning its belief in voluntarism as the correct approach for the United Kingdom.

Concerning paid educational leave for trade union education, the Government states that there will be no change to the wide range of purposes for which time off can be warranted. The right to paid time off is already restricted, and always has been to recognised trade unions, to duties concerned with industrial relations with the employer. The Government believes that there is no justification for imposing on employers the cost of paid time off to enable officials to deal with matters out of the scope of recognition. On the other hand safety representatives can be appointed by recognised trade unions from any employee (not only union officials).

The Committee takes due note of the above information. It would be glad if the Government would indicate in its next report any developments regarding the policy for the promotion of paid educational leave and the manner in which employers' and workers' organisations are associated with the formulation and the application thereof (Article 6).