In the Hotseat: Ed Sweeney, Deputy General Secretary of Amicus.

• Introduction
• Hotseat: Q and A

Introduction

Graduated from Warwick University in 1976 (BA Hon Politics & Law). Graduated from LSE in 1977 - MSc (Econ) Industrial Relations and Labour Law.

Joined the National Union of Bank Employees (NUBE) in 1977 as Research Officer. Did various posts across the whole of Finance. Elected Deputy General Secretary of the Banking Insurance and Finance Union (BIFU) in 1991 and General Secretary of BIFU in 1996. Following the formation of UNIFI in May 1999, elected General Secretary of UNIFI in 2000. Following a Transfer of Engagements of UNIFI into Amicus, now appointed as Deputy General Secretary of Amicus.

Hotseat: Q and A

1. Why did you sign up to become a Skills for Life Advocate?

Throughout my adult life I have always been keen on the idea of picking up new skills. I have also been a very keen supporter to try and ensure that all working people and their families have access to the possibilities of picking up new skills - not simply to enhance their chances in work but also as citizens.

I passionately believe that education and Skills for Life* is a necessary requirement in a civilised society. Part of the complication within the United Kingdom is trying to bring literacy and numeracy skills up to the best in the world. Equally, we have to recognise that we are a multi - cultural society and it is important that English becomes a primary tool for all our citizens. To that end ESOL* training is I believe one of the major requirements and something that a Skills for Life Advocate* should always be pushing.

2. What have I been doing to move the learning at work agenda forward in my union?

I oversee the whole of the union's learning and skills work - this includes all the senior officials involved at Sector level and Regional level. We have a management team which seeks to broaden out the union's involvement on the whole question of the learning agenda. We have been very successful in our Round 9 bid for continuing the learning and skills agenda in Amicus.

3. What impact has learning at work had upon your members?

I think it has had a crucial and important impact, both on the retention and recruitment of members. We have also seen through the advancement of our Union Learning Reps new people coming forward to get involved in union activities - I think it has been a tremendous success for Amicus. I also believe it has been a quiet revolution for the whole of the union movement. It is actually going back to part of what we used to do as unions many years ago. The education and development of our members and their families is a positive aspect of being a union member - and we should shout that from the rooftops.

4. What is next for your union and your members?

What is next for Amicus is to implement new proposals with regard to Learning and Skills Centres and to ensure that the monies that we secure from the Government are put to the best and most advantageous use for Amicus members and their families.

5 . What would you like to see be done to move the learning at work revolution on to the next level.

Clearly what needs to be done, apart from the economic support from Government, is support at every level from employers. I was very pleased to see the Chancellor, Gordon Brown, put his firm support behind the whole of the Union Learning and Skills Agenda at a recent meeting at the TUC. The new 'unionlearn' project in the TUC will be crucial for the advancement of the Learning and Skills Agenda - and all unions should give it their full and unequivocal support. This is the area that we need to win the arguments now. We also need to address the whole question of the deficit amongst our employers and their failure to actually recognise that training and skills acquisition for their workforce is of intrinsic value to all employers in every sector. It is this area I think that the next level of debate, discussion and progress has to be made.

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