Our world is becoming much less predictable economically, the advances of technology develop phenomenally and global competition gets ever more fierce. Many of our members in manufacturing have suffered heavily from the restructuring and redundancy that such economic conditions bring about and this causes considerable problems in the community. One-industry towns can be devastated from plant closure.
It is therefore essential that our members understand the need for re-training and updating their skills. We must make sure that the resources are available to enable them to succeed in new jobs with new skills.
Aware of these issues, Community, started to develop education and training programmes for our members in the late 90s and these early efforts grew rapidly into Communitas EU Ltd, (formerly known as Steel Partnership Training Ltd) being established as a wholly owned subsidiary of this union in 2000.
Whilst the continuous rundown
of the steel industry is sad for me to watch, especially in my Welsh homeland,
I am, at the same time, delighted that the 9300+ redundant steel and other
manufacturing workers have received help and advice from Communitas. This work
by communitas has directly led to over 86% of those people getting a new
start in employment.
Over the next few years, I see Communitas making an ever increasing
contribution to the development of Community. The union and
communtas working hand in hand, will make sure that all our members have
access to our vocational education resources as the world of work changes
around them.
In the future, we plan to launch a recruitment agency. This
is a logical development that will help us build on the advice, guidance and
re-training work we have done for thousands of our members. The agency will
work on a not-for-profit basis that will allow us to guide our newly-skilled
members towards the decent employers who need them most.
I would like to take this opportunity to thank the senior management and their
team for their sterling efforts to get Communitas to where it is today.
Our record at Communitas speaks for itself. We willingly undertake this
responsibility to our members and the communities in which they live and work.
Communitas will lead by example in helping working people re-construct their
lives through the personal development of their own skill, responsibility and
effort.
Michael J Leahy OBE
General Secretary Community