CONSERVATIVE ministers must reinstate financial support for unions to provide training and education, retail workers demanded today, stressing that “knowledge is power.”
Delegates at Usdaw’s annual conference in Blackpool overwhelmingly supported a motion calling for the return of the Union Learning Fund, which was “disgracefully” abolished in England by Boris Johnson’s administration last year.
The scheme, which was introduced in 1998 by the then New Labour government, helped hundreds of thousands of people in more than 700 workplaces before it was axed, according to the TUC.
Investing the £75 billion slated for defence spending on a green new deal, healthcare and education would create jobs and help communities far more than weapons spending, argues UCU general secretary JO GRADY
What’s behind the stubborn gender gap in Stem disciplines ask ROX MIDDLETON, LIAM SHAW and MIRIAM GAUNTLETT in their column Science and Society
NICOLA SARAH HAWKINS explains how an under-regulated introduction of AI into education is already exacerbating inequalities


