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HOBETUZ, a foundation for continuing vocational training that will replace Spain's national FORCEM organisation in the Autonomous Community of the Basque Country, started operations in July 1997. This is the first step towards the decentralisation of continuing vocational training which has been strongly demanded by the Basque trade union, ELA, and the Basque Government but which had met a certain resistance from the trade unions, CC.OO and UGT.
The Basque Foundation for Continuing Vocational Training began to function in July 1997 (though a large proportion of its staff has still to be recruited). The UGT trade union confederation had initially delayed signing the Interprofessional Agreement on Continuing Training in the Autonomous Community of the Basque Country, published in the Government Official Journal (boletín oficial) on 25 October 1995. Together with the Tripartite Agreement for Continuing Training in the Autonomous Community of the Basque Country, published on the same day, this constitutes the legal basis for the operations of the new foundation. It has been given the name HOBETUZ, which in English means "improving".
Characteristics of the HOBETUZ Foundation
The Interprofessional Agreement lays down that HOBETUZ must cover all aspects of continuing training for people in employment that are carried out across the Basque Country.
The Basque Government is required to channel all the financial resources intended for such continuing training through HOBETUZ. This requirement, which has been the subject of much discussion on the board, involves defining "an employed person" in the widest possible way. It will therefore include self-employed workers, who represent a fairly high percentage of the working population in the Basque Country, and special attention will be paid to small companies.
The Agreement conceives the Foundation as a "proactive" institution. That is, its function is not limited to the bureaucratic processing of calls for training plans, but includes powers to promote continuing training activities in the Basque Region (Euskadi). Article 3.2 of the Agreement thus states:
"This Institution will assume the management and control of continuing training and the general responsibility for promoting amongst companies, workers and schools an interest in continuing vocational training and the conditions for this activity to be as widespread and effective as possible."
Demand model
The Agreement expresses the will of the signatories, in all activities related to continuing vocational training, to change from a supply model to a demand model - that is, to be guided by the training needs of all employed people in the Basque Country. This position is closely related to the proactive character of the Foundation. That is, if the starting point is a demand model then it is not sufficient to wait passively for the submission of training plans in response to different calls. Sectors of the working population who find it more difficult to gain access to continuing training must be supported, particularly through targeting existing resources.
The Agreement anticipates the active participation of the signatories in developing this proactive role. For the social partners, this involves making resources available to organise their own technical structures so that they can meet the objectives outlined in the agreements.
With the aid of an external consultant, the board of the HOBETUZ Foundation has over the last few months made a great effort to agree on the best way to implement these objectives. In the future, its integral, proactive and demand-based character will be reflected in the creation of three branches across the historic territories of the Basque Country and in the organisation of teams devoted exclusively to these tasks.
Tripartite structure
The board of HOBETUZ is tripartite, comprising representatives of the Basque Government, trade unions and employers. This composition reflects an explicit demand of the majority trade union in the Basque Country, ELA, which wished to involve the Basque Government and the Basque educational system in the field of continuing vocational training of the employed workforce.
The board has four representatives of the Basque Government (from the Ministries of Labour, Industry and Education and the Presidency), five representatives of the employers' organisation, CONFEBAS, and its affiliated organisations and five representatives of the trade unions according to their level of representation on the works councils across the region (currently two are representatives of ELA, while LAB, CC.OO and UGT have one representative each). The chair of the board is elected by rotation.
Resources
The HOBETUZ Foundation's budget is still to be determined. This will depend partly on the result of the negotiations between the Basque Government and the central Government and partly on the resources that the Basque Government itself devotes to continuing training. However, it seems that this year HOBETUZ's call for training plans will require a budget of some PTA 6,094 million. It is also not yet clear whether the Provincial Councils (Diputaciones Forales) of the Basque Country - which also carry out continuing training - are to form part of the Basque Foundation for Continuing Vocational Training, and if so in what legal form.
Commentary
The creation of HOBETUZ is the first step toward the decentralisation of continuing vocational training in Spain (ES9702101F), and responds to a historical demand by the Government and the Basque trade unions. In the largest trade unions at national level, UGT and CC.OO, the setting up of a Basque Foundation for Continuing Training has been met with a certain amount of scepticism, fundamentally because of the fear that it will lead to greater regional inequality in working conditions.
In spite of the fact that some cooperation is anticipated between HOBETUZ and the national Foundation for Continuing Training (Fundación para la Formación Continua, FORCEM), none has so far taken place. The HOBETUZ Foundation model, with the characteristics described above (integral, proactive, demand-based and tripartite), is quite interesting. At this time, it is not possible to say much more since the Foundation's operation is still in its infancy. But in the future it will be very important to evaluate to what extent HOBETUZ manages to overcome the tendency towards patronage (clientelismo) to which this type of institution is often liable, and succeeds in taking continuing vocational training to groups that have so far been very removed from these activities. (Wilfried Kruse, CIREM)