GFTU BGCM Minutes 2017

Thank you very much once again for inviting Leeds Beckett University to join all

of the organisations up here on your board to work with you and both Phil and I

hope that today will make the start of a long and productive relationship to

deliver lasting change to your members through the power of education. Phil

and I are here today and are willing to talk to anybody about some of the

opportunities that there might be out there to support you in the most important

and great work that you do every day as trade unionists. Thank you so much

indeed. (Applause)

THE PRESIDENT: Does anybody want to make any comment or speak in this

session or have any questions? This is quite an important aspect of our work

at the moment. We are seeking to build these partnerships, because there is

obvious benefit to both the GFTU and its affiliates, but also, I think, to the

organisations that we are in partnership with, because we bring a wealth of

experience, including educational experience, to the table whereas, of course,

universities are key and critical in terms of learning paths and so on. This is

actually quite an important aspect of our activity, but I suppose if we spring it on

you it is a bit much to expect you to----

BRO OSHOR WILLIAMS (PFA): Obviously in my capacity as a member of the

Executive Committee I have been involved in a number of the discussions

regarding education, trade union education specifically but also the wider

education that emerges out of that. From our point of view, certainly from our

association, we recognise the fact that more or less right at this very point in

time every year, bearing in mind that at any given time we probably have

around 4,000 current members, if you work it out with four tiers of English

football, there are normally about 600 who will be out of contract. Most of

those will be those that have completed an apprenticeship. They have

probably left school, gone into the elite arena at the age of 16 and are leaving

at 18. People used to say, “Get yourself a trade. It is a very, very precarious

profession”. What we are finding is that many of those young people when they

have completed their apprenticeship are really starting a couple of years

behind their peers in terms of trying to progress in terms of either employment

or education. Many of our young members who are disengaged tend to now

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