GFTU BGCM 2019 Minutes

was called a trailblazer group. So I got to thinking I might do a little bit of

research on how they actually did that. So I went on to the Institute for

Apprenticeships website and I began to have a look at what it told me, because

trailblazer was alien to me, I did not know what it was, I did not know how you

did it and so on and so forth. When I looked at it basically says that to become

a trailblazer group you have got to get together 10 and above similar minded

employers who commit to trying to create an apprenticeship for their industry,

so I thought, “Well, where do I mix with around about 10 different unions at the

same place?” The EC. So I took this idea to the EC, and some of my

colleagues are sat in this room, and Doug very kindly gave me a bit of space to

have a conversation about it. I think collectively it began to become clearer to

us even to the extent that I think somebody said, “How has this never been

done before?” Well, maybe something has pushed us in a direction to begin to

do it.

So almost two years ago we began that discussion and what we needed first

was the support from the EC to say, “Yes, we will have a look at this, let’s go

and see what it does”. So I thank the EC and the GFTU for giving that support.

From that group we created a subgroup, four or five of us that go away, have a

look at the Institute for Apprenticeships website, follow what it tells us to do and

see how far we can get. Very quickly it became apparent to us that one of the

measurements that we would have to tick the box of is to say that there is

nothing out there currently that does the same thing that we want this

apprenticeship for our employees and trade union officials to do. When you

unpick what we do as trade union officials, industrial action ballets – it is us; the

brown book, health and safety – it is us; discipline/grievance representation – it

is us. So it became clearer that yes, there is only us as trade union officials

and trade unions that do this as one particular thing.

We got in touch with the Institute of Apprenticeships and we had a meeting and

they sent us our very own lead officer from the Institute of Apprenticeships, a

gentleman called Martin Keeves, and he came along and he reiterated to us

the process of creating a brand new apprenticeship for a trade union official will

be dependent on the need, that there is nothing else that covers it and so on

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