Vocational Qualifications: The Role of Trade Unions as Negotiation Fora

Abstract

The purpose of this chapter is to discuss, in the light of historical experience and of recent actions taken by trade unions in the field of vocational qualification, the advantages of social dialogue and collective negotiations (both bipartite and tripartite) aimed at the universalization and social effectiveness of public policies on vocational qualifications and education in developing countries, especially in Latin America. Our starting point is the relative failure of vocational education policies in several developing countries, and even in some developed countries, following from the fact that these policies were not connected with those on employment, development and education. The incapacity of crossing the gap between the market perspective (in which the market is the only important variable) and the compensatory perspective (in which the market is a variable of secondary importance) has led, among other consequences, to problems not being addressed, and to contents and methods being divorced from reality, as well as to slow progress in the average qualification level of workers in the countries under study. These policies on vocational qualification and education, within both the private sector and in the sphere of government action, tend to ignore or to treat as objects, those who are the true subjects of such policies—the workers themselves. Therefore, a hypothesis can be formulated: could it be that the non-participation of workers in the formulation of policies (guidelines, contents, methods, etc.) and in assessment is one of the important causes of such failure? If the answer is ‘yes’, would the traditional trade unions be the most efficient participation mechanisms? Would it not be the case that a new type of labour representation is necessary, one that goes beyond the limits of being tied to a particular industry and towards a ‘citizen’s trade union’ (Lima, 1999)? In order to answer these questions, starting with the definition of qualifications and vocational education, we will resort to an analysis of labour relations and of concrete practices in vocational qualifications carried out by the workers, so as to subsequently discuss the possibility of trade unions acting as negotiation fora for the said qualifications.