Chelmsford TUC

This has been written for students from 14 - 19 years of age and the Trades Council has found it particularly useful. Some parts of the pack are suitable for use with young people attending youth clubs and centres.

A copy of the pack is available for each secondary school or college for £7.00 to cover postage and packing. To order a copy write to EDS, Education House, Castle Road, Sittingbourne, Kent ME10 3RL.

Who Would Find It Useful?

Careers co-ordinators, managers, trade unionists, teachers, lecturers and youth workers.

The pack consists of five units:

Unit 1: Trade Unions at Work

Unit 2: Rights and Responsibilities at Work

Unit 3: Equal Opportunities at Work

Unit 4: Health and Safety

Unit 5: The Future of Work

Unit 1: Trade Unions at Work

The aims of this unit are:

 to provide examples of what trade unions do for their members at work
 to encourage young people to consider how trade unions help positive relations at work
 to encourage young people to learn about the changing role of trade unions.

The unit consists of five sections:

What’s your Opinion? - a research activity in which young people find out each other’s views on trade unions. This activity is designed to elicit students’ honest views about trade unions. They may have absorbed prejudices from the mass media and it is important that they feel that they can speak freely. The role of the visitor in this activity is not to win arguments, but to listen to the students’ views and to discuss with them how they came to their opinions.

Union News - an introductory activity on the issues tackled by trade unions. In this activity, students read extracts from union journals to discover the range of issues dealt with by unions.

Interviewing Skills - a work experience preparation activity in which students build their confidence in interviewing techniques. The aim of this exercise is to increase students’ confidence prior to their work experience. They will be required to interview various colleagues.

Sweating it Out - a case study of a non-union workplace where the employer does not follow employment legislation. This case study describes a sweatshop in Leicester in which the employees work long hours for low rates of pay. It illustrates some of the disadvantages of an unregulated workplace.

The Union Representative - an assignment on the work of the union representative which students can use to produce evidence of Key Skills. This assignment requires students to find out at first hand about the role of the trade union representative or shop steward.

Unit 2: Rights and Responsibilities At Work

The aims of this unit are:

 to introduce young people to their legal position in relation to rights at work
 to promote discussion about rights and responsibilities both at work and on work experience
 to provide opportunities for young people to work with trade unionists in the classroom.

The unit consists of four sections:

Rights and Wrongs - an introductory activity on rights and responsibilities at work. In this short activity, young people work in groups of three, each taking a different role: employee, employer and trade unionist. The person in the role of trade unionist has some brief notes on employment law. Each group is given a series of scenarios involving an employee’s rights.

My Rights and Responsibilities on Work Experience - a short activity which helps to prepare students for work experience. This activity involves students discussing what they expect their rights and responsibilities to be when on work experience.

Pauline, The Homeworker’s Story - a case study for workers’ rights. This study is an account of one woman’s experience of homeworking. Young people may not be aware of the conditions under which many homeworkers are employed, or their rates of pay.

Attitudes towards Trade Unions and Rights at Work - an assignment which students can use to produce evidence of Key Skills. The assignment provides young people with investigative work that they can carry out either during work experience or in part-time jobs. It aims to help them build up evidence of their Key Skills for their portfolios and introduces students to the findings of a national research survey carried out by NOP in 1996. The assignment requires students to replicate the research with their own sample of respondents and to compare their findings with those of the NOP.

Unit 3: Equal Opportunities At Work

The aims of this unit are:

 to introduce young people to the legal position in relation to equal opportunities legislation
 to promote discussion about equal opportunities both at work and on work experience
 to provide opportunities for young people to work with trade unionists in the classroom.

The unit consists of four sections:

Situations Vacant - an introductory activity on rights and responsibilities at work. In this short activity, young people learn about legislation controlling job advertisements. In pairs or small groups they discuss whether or not a number of job advertisements are within the law.

Taking Advice - a short activity on equal opportunities which helps to prepare students for work experience.

This involves students in giving advice to their peers on particular situations which could arise. It is intended to be fun and will probably be quite noisy. However, it has a serious intent. They are asked to give sensible advice that would really help if each of the situations arose.

Equal Pay for Work of Equal Value and Racial Harassment - two case studies of ways in which workers have dealt with equal opportunities issues. The case studies provide real examples of the ways in which trade unions have supported members where they have suffered some discrimination. Discussion questions are provided.

Working Parents - an assignment which students can use to produce evidence of Key Skills. This set of materials provides young people with investigative work that they can carry out either during work experience or during part-time jobs. The assignment on Working Parents introduces them to the European Parental Leave Agreement, asks them to research how working parents manage their child care arrangements and to investigate whether a company they know is "family friendly" in its approach to working parents.

Unit 4: Health and Safety

The aims of this unit are:
 to raise the awareness of young people about health and safety at work
 to encourage young people to think through the consequences of actions on their own and others’ safety
 to provide an opportunity for young people to work with trade unionists in the classroom.

The unit consists of four sections:

Accidents at Work - two introductory activities which asks students to examine cases of accidents at work.

Students are given short descriptions of actual accidents. In the first set, the accidents happen to young people on work experience. Students discuss who was at fault and how the accidents could have been avoided. In the second set, the injuries happened to employees who were members of trade unions. Students discuss the same issues.

What Would You Do? - a decision-making exercise placing students on work experience in various settings in which they must decide how to react to potentially hazardous situations. They are provided with a range of scenarios and are encouraged to think how they could avoid injury.

In Court - four real case studies of health and safety issues. The studies describe situations, three of which end up in court. Students discuss the cause of each accident and the actions which could have been taken to reduce the risks.

Health and Safety Investigation - an assignment involving investigations at a work organisation which students can use to produce evidence of Key Skills.

Unit 5: The Future at Work

The aims of this unit are:

 to raise the awareness of young people about the changing world of work, including the flexible labour market to help young people consider the kinds of skills they need to develop to match the needs of the emerging labour market to provide an opportunity for young people to work with trade unionists in the classroom.

The unit consists of four sections:

Future Skills - a "clock exercise" in which students must decide whether certain statements about changing skill needs are true or false. This activity aims to encourage them to consider the need for various work-related skills in the workplace. They have to decide whether the demand for particular skills will increase or decrease in the future.

Skills for Work - a work experience activity which asks participants to decide how the Key Skills that they are being encouraged to develop in school meet the skills required by employers.

Teamworking - a case study providing a trade union perspective on teamworking in industry. This involves students discussing a GMB union briefing paper.

Flexible Labour Market - an assignment examining aspects of flexibility in key sectors of the local labour market. This involves students collecting data about flexible working practices in key sectors of the local labour market.

Chelmsford Trades Union Council sends you best wishes for your Industry Day.

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