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"Using my own time for work stuff is unacceptable to me, and I am prepared to quit this job and get a different one that doesn't ask me to work off the clock if you press this matter."
Don't try to reason them into accepting your way of thinking, just state your position and what you're willing to do to pursue it
Incidentally, if "I am prepared to quit this job" does not currently apply to you, you should not be having this conversation.
e; partial_acumen had a way better answer
e2; this is all assuming you're ok with losing this job and waiting through a lawsuit and several years to get what you're owed by this employer
FTFY
Now, understand in many jobs maintaining a level of knowledge is necessary, and skills age-out meaning they are no longer applicable to industry. If you don't have these new certs, you may not be able to get hired somewhere else because they require the current industry knowledge. You'll have to decide which battles you want to fight, and what you will do if the worst outcome affects you and you're out of work. Would you be forced to study and pass those certs anyway just to be eligible in your industry? If so, you can work toward compromise with your current employer as a shorter and less painful path.
To this end, you can challenge them on not letting you study on the clock during downtime. If these certs are as critical as they claim, then why are downtime hours not usable for cert study?
I get that you guys are spelling things out for OP so they have an understanding of what their argument's foundation is, but going into the conversation with language like "it was not enumerated" and vague threats of reporting them to the authorities is probably not the best approach if OP actually wants to keep the job (which it sounds like they do).
My answer wasn't so much directed at OP but @gAlienLifeform@lemmy.world that had text threatening to quit. If OPs company wants them gone, threatening to quit plays right into their hands. Further, if you ever threaten and not follow through, you've lost any leverage in negotiating further changes.
To reiterate, I wasn't suggesting using that exact language I put in quotes but was attempting to show OP what was effectively being asked of them by their employer, and how it wasn't fair to what they agreed, and that there was legal recourse they had if it evolved to that. If you read the rest of my post it was laying out that taking extreme action like threatening to quit, failing to get the certs, or some such would likely result in them losing their job anyway and a better approach is to work with their employer to get some time on the clock for cert study, but also recognize that an absolutist approach can result in the worst situation for OP and likely require they get the certs anyway on their own time because the certs would be required by a new employer.
Nothing with OPs situation will be resolved in a single conversation with any one party at their employer. It will be a series of conversations with each laying out their requirements and hopefully arriving at a compromise where OP still works there, and OP's employer is satisfied with the effort toward certs.
There's the magical term! God I fucking hate wage theft. OP, the company is trying to steal from you. Your time is money and if they're not paying you for work then they're, by definition, stealing from you.
I've had conversations like this before, and usually you only have to hint that it's wage theft for dumbfuck managers to realize and back down, especially if you're assertive but polite with them. If you're not getting anywhere with the manager, then you should go to HR. HR's job is to protect the company and the obviously correct move for an HR person is to keep the DoL out of the situation. If you go to HR and then get fired, then that may be even better evidence against the shitheads.
If you do go to HR, try to get your manager to admit to wage theft in a way that gives you evidence. If you can't get the manager to admit to wage theft on paper or electronically (which you should immediately back up), you're going to the DoL, and you live somewhere with one-party consent, then surreptitiously record your manager saying it. It may be against company policy to make this recording (and should be your last resort, don't go to HR with audio recordings!), but it's legal as long as your jurisdiction has one-party consent laws on the books.
Don't let them steal from you, OP. The other magic words that have already been mentioned in this thread are "fuck you, pay me."