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learningrep » Autumn 08
Learn with Liliya Meet the woman who’s helping migrant workers “Czech out” union learning
HE DUNNIT! Top crime writer Ian Rankin turns in a Quick Read
www.unionlearn.org.uk
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Claiming our right to train The planned right to request training was prominent at the TUC Congress in September. Secretary of State at DIUS, John Denham, spoke about the new right when he addressed Congress. The new right will cover 22 million workers, who will be able to request any kind of training that will help them do their jobs better. This new right will boost the role of ULRs. We also welcomed the apprentices’ pay increase from £80 per week to £95. Also at Congress, unionlearn and the TUC hosted a very successful meeting on the new training right. We were pleased that speakers from the employers, Government and unions all agree that the right would work well. In this issue, we’re launching our search for trade union members to tell their workplace stories for our Quick Reads book in 2010. We kick this off with an interview with top crime writer Ian Rankin. He talks about the Quick Read he has written and offers tips for our potential writers. So check the unionlearn website for more details and send your stories in. We’re also highlighting the crucial learning work done by unions and project workers to help migrant workers, some of the most vulnerable workers in Britain: Our activists are a credit to trade unionism. Finally, congratulations to David Lammy on being promoted in the reshuffle. Welcome to the two new DIUS Parliamentary Under Secretaries, Lord Tony Young, and Siôn Simon MP. We look forward to working with you. And thanks to Bill Rammell for all his support, and good luck in his new job. Liz Smith Director, unionlearn The Learning Rep, autumn 08 Editor: Mike Power mpower@tuc.org.uk Writers: Astrid Stubbs, Martin Moriarty Design: Redhouse Lane Communications Print: Ancient House Printing Group Distribution: Cavalier mailing Cover photo: GMB Regional Migrant Workers Coordinator Liliya Brabbs and Ian Rankin photographed by Jess Hurd
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Janet – star ULR TUC Congress roundup News Migrant learning with Liliya Brabbs Time to train Quick read with Ian Rankin unionlearn supporting learners TUC Education focus South West Unions aim higher Billy Hayes on Board Contacts Jay knows Free resources
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ULR of the year « Roundup «
at Congress
Photo: Jess Hurd
Just three years after she first became a learning rep, Janet Johnson has won the unionlearn ULR of the Year Award. The PCS ULR, who works for Jobcentre Plus in Barnsley, picked up her award from Minister for Women Harriet Harman during the TUC Congress in Brighton in September. Our Congress coverage kicks off with Janet’s story over the next two pages, and includes full details of Skills Secretary John Denham’s speech to delegates, the TUC unionlearn fringe meeting on Time To Train, and our reception where Skills Minister David Lammy was briefed by a range of learning reps from around the country.
Photograph: Andrew Wiard
Janet’s our no. 1 ULR
Harriet Harman presents Janet Johnson with her ULR of the Year award at this year’s TUC Congress
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» Roundup » ULR of the Year
Nobody does it ULR of the Year Janet Johnson says her success is all down to her larger trade union family who have helped her every step of the way.
J
ust three years ago, Barnsley Jobcentre Plus Validation Officer Janet Johnson was committed to her union but not an activist member of PCS. Everything changed when, having worked for the Department of Work and Pensions for nearly 30 years, Janet became concerned at the way long-term colleagues were being treated as part of a major overhaul. “A lot of people were upset about the situation,” she recalls. “They’d become numbers not individuals with personal needs any more, and that’s when I felt I had to do something – I didn’t want to stand back and see injustice – so I asked my ULR Frank Parham if there were any jobs going.” Janet took the ULR five-day course and, in time-honoured fashion, hasn’t looked back since. Within a year, she became branch learning coordinator and started recruiting new ULRs. And just another year on, she was promoted to DWP regional learning officer for the Yorkshire and Humberside Region and now coordinates the work of over 50 ULRs. She has helped arrange literacy, numeracy and ICT screening and courses: 600 learners have completed ICT courses in Sheffield and Leeds alone. As branch ULR, she’s been the driving force behind numerous successful Learning At Work days – six in the last 12 months – and introduced Skills for Life courses in work time and on the premises. In addition, Janet has signposted and given ongoing support to colleagues from Level 2 to an Open University student.
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Her leadership has introduced the branch and the union in the region to a wider circle of providers, creating sustainable relationships for ongoing learning. “The work Janet is doing in adult learning is attracting the attention of national learning bodies around the country such as the Open University and the Workers Educational Association,” says PCS DWP regional committee chair Julia Thornton. While Janet was thrilled to receive the ULR of the Year award, she’s keen to express her thanks to her larger, trade union family.
Janet with her General Secretary Mark Serwotka (above) and her son Jack (right)
“Although I was the one who went up to get the award, I couldn’t have done it without the support of everyone else – the training I received from the PCS, the learning project team, my regional committee, my own branch have been brilliant and so have the contributions of the ULRs I work with,” she says. “And PCS ULR Frank Parham has been extremely supportive – he mentored me through the whole process and without his support I probably wouldn’t have progressed as I did.” Frank was there in Brighton to
see her pick up her award, as was Branch Secretary and Regional Organiser Lesley Salt. Also in the hall for her big moment was husband Doug and 14-year-old son Jack: he’d been given the day off school on condition that he reported back to his classmates about his mum’s award, something which delighted Janet, as someone who’s keen to spread the union word among the next generation too. It’s the joy of seeing people transform their lives through learning that maintains Janet’s enthusiasm. “Learning is the best thing I’ve ever done in my working life: it’s fantastic. You can see the difference it makes to people’s lives: It helps with an individual’s confidence and you can see them change and take more responsibility for the decisions being taken around them.” Having left school with good GCSEs but without taking further qualifications, Janet knows just how much difference learning can make. As well as ULR training, she’s taken a range of courses including Skills for Life, adult learner support and IAG over the last three years. “I’ve had more training in the last three years than in the rest of my life!” she jokes. “I’ve come a long way – I had very little confidence when I left school and the thought of getting up on stage to receive this award would have terrified me,” she says. “But now I no longer shy away from such situations: I think of them as opportunities.” Janet’s already busy making branch visits with her regional organiser to talk about how learning and organising link together. “Learning needs to be embedded in branch and union structures,” she says. And she sees her award as just the beginning. “There’s so much more to be done: I want more people to experience what I’ve had and realise they can have a say and make a difference.”
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ULR of the Year « Roundup «
t batter!
at Congress
Photos: Jess Hurd
By Astrid Stubbs
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» Roundup » TUC Congress
Photo: Jess Hurd
Denham boosts skills and apprentice pay
John Denham said the new right to request training could transform workplace culture
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Photo: Rod Leon
It’s no secret in the labour movement that education and skills are some of the most powerful levers to improve social mobility, DIUS Secretary of State John Denham told delegates at TUC Congress. “We know that if we help an adult improve their skills, their children are more likely to succeed too,” he said. “Together, we are bringing about a change in the culture. Step by step, we are entrenching people’s rights to learn in law: we have given new rights to millions of people,” he said. The planned new right to request time to train was particularly important now when times are tight, he said. “It will cover around 22 million workers who will be able to request anything that will help them do their jobs better – from an IT course to a degree,” he said. “This is not a soft option: it has the potential to completely transform the culture of workplaces across England.” The aim was to create a system which would work for individuals, whether they were stacking shelves or selling software, where every employee understood they had rights to learning as much as to maternity or paternity leave and flexible working. He praised union learning reps for being “best friends in the workplace” to thousands of their colleagues, and for encouraging employers to sign the Government’s Skills Pledge and to work with the Train To Gain programme. The rise in the minimum wage for apprentices’ pay from £80 to £95 per week would also help boost skills, he forecast. “It will be young women – apprentices like those in hairdressing and care – who will benefit most,” he told delegates. And he said the Government would ensure apprenticeships were a mainstream option for all young people and adults in England: within the next decade, one in five young people would be able to take up an apprenticeship.
at Congress
CBI Deputy Director-General John Cridland reached out to unions at the fringe meeting
We’re all singing from the same song sheet Representatives of the Government, unions and CBI set out how they thought plans to introduce a new right to time to train would help raise the skills levels of the UK workforce at a packed TUC/unionlearn fringe meeting at unionlearn Congress. DIUS Secretary of State John Denham told the meeting that raising skills levels was the biggest challenge the country faced. “It’s important for social justice: if we want people to have better jobs, to have children who have higher expectations, the biggest single thing you can do is raise people’s skills,” he said. Introducing the new rights was a step towards changing the culture across the training system, he argued. “One of the most significant things we can do is entrench the legal right to ask for the time to train and make people more aware that money is available for training,” he said. The trade union movement would play an important role in mobilising support for the new rights, he said, and ULRs would
have a developing role in advising and encouraging people in the workplace about their right. “Places where there are ULRs will have a head-start because they already have someone to take people through and encourage them to give it a try,” he added. TUC Deputy General Secretary Frances O’Grady spelt out the TUC’s support for the planned new right: “This country needs an infrastructure of skills as much as an infrastructure of transport or higher education,” she said. CBI Deputy Director-General John Cridland said the new right was an idea whose time has come. “It goes with the grain of what happens in the workplace, in good workplaces where they have common sense solutions: it has the potential to be a great success,” he said. The CBI believed the new right would put to bed what he called the “stale debate” about voluntarism versus compulsion, he said. It’s about time: pp16/17
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TUC « Roundup «
We should be determined to ensure no one is denied the right to education in our society. Skills Minister David Lammy told a unionlearn reception to celebrate ULRs and union learning at Congress. “In my own family, my mother was given that right by her union to take courses so she had a bit more money to provide for her family,” the minister said. There was now a chain of hundreds of thousands of people like his mother who had been empowered by the work of ULRs, he said. “You’ll hear about GCSEs and A Levels, but we don’t hear enough about this powerful story – about adults able to read to their grandchildren for the first time, about grown men able to understand the change they get in the pub for the first time,” he said. “I’m here to celebrate the power of unions and the Labour Party to effect change for working people and I’m deeply honoured to
Together for learning (from left): Skills Minister David Lammy, TUC Deputy General Secretary Frances O’Grady, and unionlearn Director Liz Smith and Chair Billy Hayes
celebrate you and thank you for all you do,” he added. Unionlearn Director Liz Smith said the organisation’s top priority for the coming period was to extend the influence, partnership and agreements unions had with employers. Learning reps should continue putting pressure on unions to ensure
their own movers and shakers really saw how union learning was about building a movement fit for purpose for the next 20 to 30 years. TUC Deputy General Secretary Frances O’Grady said that every one of the movement’s 20,000 ULRs was a star. “Thank you all for standing up for working people,” she said.
Star ULRs brief the minister Unionlearn invited a range of learning reps to brief Skills Minister David Lammy at our TUC Congress reception Felicity Mendelson and Martin Vince (left) and Janet Johnson and Karol Mo´sci´nski (right) brief David Lammy
orate Felicity Mendelson, UNISON, is a corp for learning and development worker awarded Newcastle City Council who has been ing. learn and s an MBE for services to skill e som e mak “Having the award may s sit up organisations that wouldn’t think of ULR . said she and take notice,”
Martin Vince, GMB, works for Cityclean, Brighton, and won the NIACE Adult Learners’ Week Outstanding Regional Learner of the Year Award and the unionlearn-sponsored award in the South East. Martin had problems with schoolwork and left without any qualifications. As well as gaining his own award as a ULR, he’s now helping colleagues take up courses as diverse as Polish, signing, ESOL and ECDL. “I’m really proud and want to keep learning myself as well as helping others,” he said.
Karol Mo´sci´nski, Karol arrived from Poland two years ago and took a job as a line operator with the company. Thanks to a ULR, he enrolled on an ESOL course, was promoted at work and decided to train as a learning rep himself. He’s now a vital link for Polish colleagues, helping them take up learning opportunities at the company’s learning centre. “After they take ESOL courses, I can now see more Polish people moving from line operator jobs and working in departments they’ve never worked in before.”
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Photo: Rod Leon
Telling our powerful story
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Winning for their members Three union learning reps who have taken learndirect courses to develop their careers and/or encouraged their colleagues to follow suit have won recognition in the unionlearn-sponsored category at the regional learndirect Achievement Awards. Since becoming a learning rep at the James Paget Hospital Learning Centre in Great Yarmouth three years ago, Donna Bilyard (Eastern winner) has worked tirelessly to promote the learning agenda among her colleagues. As well as co-ordinating a team of ULRs, Donna tutors and supports learners herself. “I’m now managing the centre and we want to take
Donna Bilyard
learndirect out to the community, to promote this way of learning,” she says. A team leader at Merseytravel’s Spaceport attraction in Liverpool, Suzanne Politi (North West winner) studied through the Merseylearn project, and has encouraged over 90 per cent of the Spaceport crew staff to enrol on courses at the company’s training centres since becoming a ULR. “I enjoy encouraging my colleagues to progress in work and in their own lives: I’m really pleased about the award but I couldn’t have done it without them,” she says. Jacqui Robinson (North East winner) is a GMB ULR working with Newcastle Council as a cleaner who encourages colleagues to enrol with
Suzanne Politi with Merseylearn nominator Norman Hunter (left) and Graham Whitehead (UFI)
learndirect and has negotiated time off for four of her members to undergo basic IT training. “I’m amazed! I didn’t have any skills at all, and now I’ve passed a number of qualifications. If I can do it anyone can,” she says. While Jacqui won the regional award, Natalie Wood, who is another Newcastle Council ULR, took the Highly Commended award. “Unionlearn is pleased that the calibre of nominees has been so very high: the winners fully deserve their recognition, and to be rewarded for their success in promoting learndirect and proving the benefits from union-led learning,” said unionlearn Director Liz Smith.
Jacqui Robinson and her award
Now that’s what we c
Photo: Charles Milligan
Unbeatable value (from left): Prospect Assistant General Secretary Dai Hudd, VOA Chief Executive Andrew Hudson and PCS National Officer Peter Lockhart sign the Valuation Office Agency learning agreement
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The Valuation Office Agency (VOA) has become the first Government organisation to adopt its own bespoke Climbing Frame, the electronic tool devised by unionlearn to enhance learning opportunities in the workplace. The Climbing Frame is now available to its 4,000 staff across 86 offices via the agency’s intranet, and has been publicised by ULRs and publicity materials. To mark its launch this summer, management signed a learning agreement with the Prospect and PCS unions which opens the door to workplace learning at the VOA and provides facility time for ULRs. “VOA is trailblazing on the issue of skills,” commented Prospect Assistant General Secretary Dai Hudd. “I urge the rest of the Civil Service to catch up and to work with union learning reps to put in place similar learning opportunities for employees.”
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News « Taxi drivers take pride in their L-plates Unite the union has chalked up major successes since it set up the North West Taxi Driver Consortium to examine learning and organising issues facing taxi drivers in the region last summer. In just over a year, the 19-strong team of taxi driver ULRs has encouraged over 370 colleagues to enrol on NVQs and the union’s recruited over 130 new members in the sector, even setting up a new taxi drivers branch in Knowsley after signing up 52 new members there. “Absolutely key to all of this is the fact that it is the taxi driver reps themselves that are developing, organising and delivering this whole programme,” explains Ann McCall from the union’s education department.
Taxi driver ULRs have signed up over 130 new members
The project has had to overcome a number of obstacles, she says. “Taxi drivers are an unusual and hard-to-reach group of learners, mainly because of their selfemployed status and the fact that any training that they undertake will be conducted during their own time and at their own expense.”
Prospect goes bats about learning Sixty Prospect members from the National Trust, Tate Gallery, the Ministry of Defence and elsewhere tried everything from bat-tracking to tree-climbing on a learning day at the Field Studies Council’s Juniper Hall in Dorking, Surrey. Under the theme of raising environmental awareness, conservation expert Paul Lee gave a talk about the ecological importance of bumblebees, the Natural
Environment Research Council offered some green tips for work and home and Countryside Training showed learners tree-climbing and chainsaw-sculpting. At dusk, the Bat Conservation Trust took learners and their families out into the fields to search for local species using high-frequency bat detectors – and tracked pipistrelle bats whose appearance was an unforgettable experience.
e call adding value
Napo makes history with CPD event The first learning and development conference for ULRs in the family court and probation officers’ union Napo was a “historic moment” for the union, Assistant General Secretary Cordell Pillay told the event in Hinckley, near Leicester, this summer. “This is the first conference to promote Continuing Professional Development (CPD) for all staff working in the Community Justice Sector – it’s a historic moment for Napo,” she said. The event built on the union’s learning and development strategy promoting learning for all within the Probation Service and the Children and Family Court Advisory Support Service (CAFCASS). “We believe that the professional life of all our members can be transformed through access to learning throughout their working lives, and the development of a ULR network in Napo is an important step forward,” Cordell said. “Presently, the Probation Service is going through a period of fundamental change, with the introduction of the New Qualifying Training Arrangements for probation officers: ULRs will be able to support staff on how to make the most of these new arrangements and open doors to access quality learning opportunities.” Unionlearn Director Liz Smith told the conference that union learning had become a key part of the organising agenda for many unions. Union learning was also playing an important role in the fight for equality, with the most disadvantaged workers gaining through the focus on Level 2 qualifications, and the profile of learning reps impressively younger, more female and more ethnically diverse, Liz said. All together now (from left): Napo Assistant General Secretary Cordell Pillay and General Secretary Jonathan Ledger, unionlearn Director Liz Smith, Prison Officers’ Association National Vice-Chair Steve Gough and Train To Gain Programme Director Clare Pierce
Photo: Rod Leon
VOA Chief Executive Andrew Hudson welcomed the development of the Climbing Frame. “Training and development should not just be for the job at hand, but also to give people broader skills, and the Climbing Frame is an excellent tool to help achieve this,” he said. Prospect ULR Paul Taylor, who was seconded from his branch to the Climbing Frame project for six months, gave a presentation on how it works at the launch. “For the project to succeed, it needs the enthusiasm and personal backing of union learning reps – there’s no substitute for that,” he said. The VOA is an executive agency of HM Revenue and Customs, which assesses business rates and values domestic properties for Council Tax purposes in England and Wales.
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Bakers discover joy of six Over 50 staff at Fletcher’s Bakery in Sheffield took up the Six Book Challenge issued by a couple of bakers’ union ULRs on Learning at Work Day earlier this summer as part of the successful nationwide scheme run by the Reading Agency’s Vital Link library and literacy programme. BFAWU activists Alan Oakes and Mick Neville initially enrolled 47 readers for the challenge, using the latest batch of Quick Reads titles by famous names including chef Gordon Ramsay and athlete Colin Jackson to hook people in, and eventually 54 members joined in. They arranged for the mobile library so readers could get advice about suitable books, ensured the learning centre and its library was open during all three shifts and launched a bookswap club with the help of the BBC’s Reading And Writing (RAW) website.
Tracy McClean read almost 20 books after starting the challenge. “I was hooked from day one: I spend over two hours a day travelling to work by bus and reading helps me pass the time. I love Harry Potter books: the kids can’t get them away from me.” Unionlearn Regional Manager Dr Alan Roe said the scheme was another great example of the way
I’ll give it six: some of the Fletcher’s learners who took the Six Book Challenge
that BFAWU was supporting its union learners. “The Six Book Challenge has really caught the imagination of union learners in Yorkshire and the Humber.” Reading Agency Project Manager David Kendall was delighted by the responses to the challenge in the region. “Working with union learning representatives has helped us engage many priority groups in the workplace,” he pointed out. Across the country, around 7,000 adult learners took part in the Six Book Challenge this year through workplaces, libraries, colleges, community education centre and prisons. The Reading Agency and sponsors Costa Coffee are running the scheme again next year. » www.sixbookchallenge.org.uk
Who’s your learning hero?
Delivering in Stoke Royal Mail delivery workers in Stoke are signing up for IT courses, thanks to the CWU Midland No. 7 Branch’s Outreach Learning Centres, formally opened by Deputy General Secretary Dave Ward this summer. “The branch has four established learning centres at the larger units but – as is so often the case – the delivery units were not afforded the same opportunities,” explains Regional Project Worker Dave Condliffe. That’s why Dave and lead ULR Shaun Pender devised a plan to purchase a mobile IT suite and recruit an IT tutor from the membership (ULR Steve Barber) to plug the gap in provision, with the help of Stoke Trade Union Education Centre. Now the branch is offering free IT courses delivered at the learners’ convenience at the 10 delivery offices, as well as Skills for Life and language courses. “The learning agenda an incredible recruitment tool because it allows us to reach people who possibly would never have imagined being part of a trade union,” says Branch Secretary Andy Plant. “No one loses in this agenda: the industrial and learning agenda are one and the same,” Dave Ward said at the opening.
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Who do you know who’s transformed their lives through learning? The National Institute of Adult Continuing Education (NIACE) wants the names of your inspirational adult learners who deserve recognition at next year’s Adult Learners’ Week Awards. “Every year we seek out the most dedicated and inspirational learners whose achievements could inspire others to give learning a go, so if you know someone who fits the bill then nominate them for an Adult Learners’ Week Award,” says NIACE Publicity Officer Kamy Basra.
“We also have awards for innovative learning programmes which stimulate and transform the lives of adult learners: if you think your programme deserves recognition then nominate yourself for an Adult Learners’ Week Award as well!” For more information about how to nominate for next year’s Adult Learners’ Week Awards, visit www.alw.org.uk/nominate, email alw@niace.org.uk or phone the NIACE Campaigns Team on 0116 204 4200. The closing date for nominations is 5pm on Wednesday 21 January 2009.
NIACE is running a series of half-day regional roadshows this autumn to encourage wider participation and more partnership activity in next year’s Adult Learners’ Week (9-15 May 2009). The events will show how to secure sponsorship and funding, where to go for help and support in your region and how to make the media work for you. Places are very limited, so get your application in ASAP. You can email silvia.errington@niace.org.uk, phone her on 0116 223 0050 or visit the website: www.niace.org.uk/conferences/ALW09roadshow.htm
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News « News in brief It’s for U-Net Skills Minister David Lammy re-launched unionlearn’s network of 100-plus learning centres this summer under the new U-Net brand at a special event at Congress House. “U-Net centres are beacons of opportunity, attracting ever-increasing numbers of learners,” he said. Since its launch in six years ago, the network has so far helped over 32,000 union members take flexible courses, including 9,000 Skills for Life learners.
Skills youth team scores another UK medal haul After Team GB’s success at the Olympics and Paralympics, the country’s 16-strong youth team achieved eight gold medals at the first ever EuroSkills, a threeday competition in skills ranging from farriery to cleaning held in Rotterdam, Netherlands. The cleaning, farrier and fashion teams all won gold and a Midlands hairdresser took the top prize in
hairdressing, too. In addition, four competitors won golds for their individual marks and a fifth took silver. “The results reflect the unprecedented investment we’ve made in skills training in the UK, and I hope the success of Team UK will inspire others to pursue excellence in their vocational skill,” commented Skills Minister David Lammy.
Four into one does go Four ULRs are helping guide the lifelong learning debate at national level through their work on the National Learner Panel, which advises the Government on changes to further education. The Government set up the 18member panel two years ago to help improve the whole range of adult learning by creating a forum where adult learners themselves could feedback their experiences directly to policy-makers. The union members currently on the panel are ULRs Graeme Brinded
(CWU), Sue Hinde (UNISON), Maureen Romaniuk and Simone Toole (both PCS). “I love accepting the challenges and following the different pathways that learning presents and enabling others to do so too,” says Sue. The panel has been putting its concerns directly to the civil servants responsible for adult learning in John Denham’s office, according to Graeme. “We had an hour with Lifelong Learning Minister Bill Rammell at our meeting in January – and that is about as good an input as you can get!” he points out.
Giving adult learners a voice (from left): Sue Hinde, Graeme Brindred, Simone Toole and Maureen Romaniuk
Right on time The Government’s target for 2.5 million adults to achieve their first national Skills for Life qualification by 2010 has been achieved two years early: 2,276,000 learners have achieved their first Skills for Life qualification in literacy, language or numeracy since 2001. “These qualifications give people so much more than just a certificate: gaining basic skills like reading and writing is a vital step towards getting a better job and life,” said DIUS Secretary of State John Denham.
Preston relaunch Preston College has relaunched its Trade Union Education Unit with new TUCaccredited courses for union reps and learners, including employment law, health and safety law and workplace education and training opportunities. “Our overriding aim is to enable trade union representatives to develop the full range of skills they need to develop trade union organisation in the workplace and effectively represent their members’ interests in key areas of employment practice,” commented Andy Birchall, unionlearn course coordinator at Preston College.
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» Feature » Learning and organising
How migrant w are learning thanks to t Migrant workers in East Anglia are learning about their rights at work while improving their English, thanks to the GMB’s Liliya Brabbs.
By Martin Moriarty
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M
ore migrant workers have registered to work in East Anglia than in any other part of the country over the past four years. While some of them are IT professionals or doctors, many are fruit-pickers, factory-workers and builders whose experience of living and working in this country has been tainted by exploitation and discrimination. Luckily, some of them at least have found practical help and concrete support from the local trade union
movement, not least in the form of the GMB’s Migrant Workers Learning Projects Co-ordinator for the region, Liliya Brabbs. A migrant herself, Liliya moved to the UK from the Czech Republic four years ago to live with her daughter, a professional photographer who had recently moved from the US to work here. “I had a good job as a television journalist, and I was progressing in my career, but my daughter persuaded me to take a break
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Learning and organising « Feature «
workers o their union
Photo: Jess Hurd
Liliya Brabbs (centre) and Jenny Webber spread the learning word at Anglian Windows with the help of Michael Loynes (second left) and Freddy Tanti
and come here,” she recalls. “But six or nine months after I got here, my daughter was called back to America and I told her I’d lived there before and didn’t want to go back!” It was while Lilya was working for a development trust based in Thetford in Norfolk, that she began to spend increasing amounts of her time trying to help migrant workers. It was no wonder so many came to her for help, given that she speaks five European languages (for the record: Czech, Slovakian, Polish, Russian and English). “I’d called all the different agencies but mostly they relied on my help because they needed language support,” explains Liliya. She’d not thought of getting in touch with a trade union because of her own experience growing up. “At that time, unions in Eastern Europe were so completely different: often they just did what the government said and what employers said – I don’t think they really helped people,” she recalls. Then she met the GMB’s Steve Walker, now working for the Government’s Train To Gain programme, but at that time the union’s East Anglian Project Worker. Steve had already set up some very successful meetings in his home town of Thetford to offer Portuguese workers the chance to discuss their needs with local union officials and interpreters. Helping migrant workers is not like any other part of union work, points out London Region Training and
Development Officer Jenny Webber, who was working closely with Liliya long before she joined the GMB’s staff earlier this year. “Generally speaking, native workers want advice over disciplinaries and grievances, accidents, health and safety – the normal stuff of trade union business,” she says. “But migrant workers want help to open bank accounts or help with housing, which our reps don’t usually deal with, whereas somebody like Liliya does – plus she’s got the languages,” she points out. Even so, the work often takes time. When Liliya first started working with the union three years ago, she would find herself still in her office at 10 or 11 o’clock at night wrestling with the complexity of the problems migrant workers were bringing to her. “The issues are so complicated and the whole process slows down when you’re interpreting, plus people are often angry or upset – they’re so emotional they express all their feelings, which also takes time,” she says. Nevertheless, the work began to pay off as between them Liliya and the union could solve problems for migrant workers that neither of them would have been able to do on their own. And as the union helped them out, so the workers began joining up. “I used to explain to people how joining a trade union is really necessary because this is where you can get protection – and not many continued over >
“The issues facing migrant workers are complicated and the whole process slows down when you’re interpreting”
The facts about migrant workers in East Anglia Most recent migrants are young and in good health, so make correspondingly few demands on the NHS. At the same time, they contribute to the NHS as employees, taxpayers and by boosting economic growth. Most recent migrants have no children with them, and so make correspondingly few demands on the education service. UKwide, registered workers have declared 52,125 dependants aged under 17 since May 2004: fewer than one dependant for every five workers. There is no evidence that new migrants are jumping the queue for social housing. Of the 10.1 million council and housingassociation tenants in Britain, only 183,300 – fewer than 2 per cent – arrived in this country in the last five years. More than 60 per cent of recent arrivals are living in private rented accommodation, with most newcomers banned from access to social housing initially. Source: Why the East of England needs migrant workers, East of England Development Agency. Download from: http://tinyurl.com/4ml7ul
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» Feature » Learning and organising
Photo: Jess Hurd
organisations will help and protect you for free. And because they respected me, they respected my opinion, and they saw how a trade union like the GMB was effective – so I recruited a good number of members.” The GMB approach is to work with migrants inside their own communities first, setting up Know Your Rights courses in local community centres and English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL) courses outside the workplace. The reality of discrimination means migrants are very often unwilling to be seen talking to a union activist or official in the workplace because they’re frightened it might cost them their job. “Many of them don’t want their managers to know that they have anything to do with the union, so we tend to work with them outside the workplace first and then we can start to make headway in the workplace later,” Jenny explains. “The main tool is the Know Your Rights courses – that’s what we start with, because a lot of migrants work for agencies on temporary contracts or are so-called self-employed and they have no idea of their rights,” Jenny says. The courses are usually run on a Saturday and cover their own work problems, employment rights, and the benefits of joining the union. “Depending on where they come from, they might be very suspicious of trade unions, so we usually need
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to spend some time explaining how we’re independent and not attached to any employer,” Jenny says. In organising terms, there’s often nothing more effective than using the union’s resources to score significant victories – such as the recent Employment Tribunal win for a Portuguese woman who was sacked simply for becoming pregnant. “That was good because it showed the local Portuguese community that we’d been able to do something concrete to help,” says Jenny.
“The courses in English for Speakers of Other Languages are a briliant organising tool”
Some employers actively want an ignorant workforce so they can control them more easily, argues Jenny Webber (left)
The other tool in the union’s organising arsenal has been its ESOL courses. “The ESOL courses have been good in themselves in that they’re teaching people English, but they’re also a a way of getting them involved in the union,” Jenny says. “Through these classes we get to spend more than just the odd five minutes with people and you get a chance to know them a bit and you’re able to explain about the union and then they talk to the people in their community and it has a knock-on effect.” Liliya herself has been running informal, pre-entry level ESOL classes in Thetford fire station which have
helped hundreds of Eastern European workers, and recently started teaching migrant workers at Pratt’s Bananas, where the union hopes to secure recognition. But she fears the withdrawal of government funding for free ESOL classes will only make life more difficult for the people they’ve been helping. And few employers are likely to put their hand in the pockets to pay for classes, Jenny argues. “It’s not just that some employers don’t want to pay for ESOL classes: it’s that some of them actively want an ignorant workforce because they’re easier to control and do what they like with,” she says. “And they particularly don’t want to shell out if it’s us teaching their workers English, because not only will they learn the language but they’ll learn about their rights at work as well,” she says. But the union has not only focused its energies on courses and classes: it’s made sure migrant workers have combined learning with social and sporting activities. Earlier this year, Liliya set up an informal evening out in a local pub and in the summer helped organise a fishing day with the Breckland
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ESOL classes give GMB food for thought and recognition
Angling Club and the Environment Agency, combining a classroom session about UK angling laws with a fishing competition between two teams of keen anglers from a range of local migrant communities – many of them students at Liliya’s Saturday morning English classes. “Since I started working with the GMB, I realised how effective unions can be, because this is an organisation that really helps people and has never broken the trust of migrant workers – because I can see the effectiveness of our work, that’s why I enjoy it so much,” says Liliya.
Migrants learning with their unions Many unions are combining the learning and organising agendas in their work with migrant workers. Before it merged with Amicus to form Unite, the TGWU set up the first-ever Migrant Workers’ Support Unit, offering services such as translation, advice on employment rights, and signposting to community support services.
The UNISON migrant workers participation project aims to involve migrant workers at all levels of the union, and reduce economic and social exclusion. The Fire Brigades Union has run English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL) classes for Polish workers at Crewe Fire Station where locally-based migrants have improved their English and firefighters have learned useful phrases in Polish.
A fishing day out organised by the GMB and the Breckland Angling Club this summer combined learning with fun activity and a competition
The ESOL classes GMB ULR Hiten Vaidya set up for workers at Katsouris Fresh Foods in West London have helped recruit hundreds of members and eventually win union recognition earlier this year. “Two years ago, our members, who are mostly migrant Asian workers, asked us to run English classes, so we set them up at the Brent Indian Association centre – two on Saturdays and two on Sundays,” he says. “We started the classes away from the workplace because many workers were scared of management at the time, but the other benefit was that many other members of the community from other workplaces were using the centre, which has helped workers understand the many ways the union can help them. I started running employment surgeries there as well.” During a three-week recruitment campaign at Katsouris late last year, Hiten signed up 1,000 new members. “I believe ESOL classes are the easiest recruitment tool,” he says. “Once you know what a community needs – whether it’s the Indian, Pakistani, Polish or Portuguese community – and help them get it, then they’ll always be with you.”
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» Briefing » Time to train
It’s about tim By Martin Moriarty
The Government wants to introduce a new right to request time to train. The big question is how it’s going to work.
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round eight million employees in England go without training from one year to the next, simply because they work for bosses who don’t see the point of investing in their staff. All that could change once the Government puts the finishing touches to plans to give English employees the right to “a serious conversation with their employer about their skills development”. Formally announced by Skills Secretary John Denham at unionlearn’s annual conference this summer, the proposals are currently being tweaked in the light of the responses to widespread consultation over the past few months. There’s no doubt that the new right to request time to train would get used [see sidebar]. And it’s clear that something has to be done to extend more training to the people who have had the least up to now: only 9 per cent of workers without formal qualifications participated in job-related training in the last three months, while over four times as many graduates (38 per cent) improved their skills. This is something TUC General Secretary Brendan Barber urgently wants to change. “While those who most need training have the biggest appetite to learn, they receive the
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smallest share of the training pie,” he says. That’s why the Government must ensure the new right is strong enough to make a genuine difference, he warns – which is why the big question that matters now is how the new system will work. The Government wants to use the model already in place for the right to request flexible working, since that would make life easier for employers already familiar with those procedures. But there are some problems with this approach, as the TUC highlighted in its response to the consultation. The flexible working request is all about the particular individual circumstances of someone who more or less knows what they’re taking on with the impending birth of a new child or the care of a family member. But the training request is likely to be from several colleagues in the same work unit, who may only have a general notion of what they want to do and no clear idea yet about when, where and how – let alone how much it might cost. “The framework for implementing Time to Train needs to differ from that of the right to request flexible working, not least because of the different drivers for workers to request training,” the TUC argues. And when it comes to who can use
the new right, Congress House wants to keep it simple: it argues the new right must be universal and specifically include agency workers, 65 per cent of whom have never been offered training by their current employer. “We’ve welcomed the Government’s recent move to grant agency workers similar employment rights to permanent employees after 12 weeks,” the TUC says, “but this would be undermined if agency workers are excluded from the right to request time to train.” Equally, there should be no exemptions for small employers, not least because they are specifically the very people least likely to train their staff: over 45 per cent of employers with up to four staff and 20 per cent with between five and 24 on the payroll didn’t offer any staff training in 2007, according to
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It’s good to talk The TUC and CBI have got together with two key Government departments to produce a new guide aimed at helping union reps and human resources staff develop a dialogue on training and skills at the workplace. It’s Time To Talk Training, which will be covered indepth in the next issue of The Learning Rep, uses 10 reallife examples of effective workplace dialogue on training in action, covering a number of business sectors, sizes and industrial relations models. In addition to the case studies, the publication offers top tips derived from good practice at the workplaces where useful dialogue on training is already underway. “We want this publication to inspire all parties to engage in effective two-way dialogue on training and skills,” say TUC General Secretary Brendan Barber, CBI Director General Richard Lambert, Skills Secretary John Denham and the then Business Secretary John Hutton. “For most, it’s a matter of assessing how existing systems to engage the workforce can be improved and, perhaps, rejuvenated: we believe this effort is well worth making and produces tangible benefits to all concerned.” If you can’t wait for the coverage in the next edition, you can download the guidance from: http://tinyurl.com/3myqef
You say Yes Seven in 10 (71 per cent) of working people back a new legal right to request paid time off for training and 53 per cent say they would be likely to use it, according to the YouGov survey for unionlearn. People aged 18-24 are the strongest supporters, with four out of five (82 per cent) agreeing that employees should have a legal right to request paid time off for training, and three in five saying they would take advantage of it. Women (75 per cent) are stronger supporters of the right to request training than men (67 per cent) although there is no significant difference in the likelihood of them using the right. Full and part-time workers are also similarly supportive, as are people with no formal qualifications: 76 per cent support the right and 56 per cent say would be likely to use it. You can download the TUC submission from: http://tinyurl.com/3rmur4
the latest Learning and Skills Council figures. Crucially, the TUC welcomes plans that union reps and ULRs could accompany workers when they make appointments to talk about training with the boss but wants the Government to extend ULR rights to ensure they have facilities and time to conduct these duties. “We know that in the real world, it’s not always an equal relationship when individual workers talk to their manager – but if you have your ULR by your side you’re far more likely to get a good conversation and a good result for everyone,” TUC Deputy General Secretary Frances O’Grady told a Congress fringe meeting on the subject in September.
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» Interview » Ian Rankin
Checking out
Ian Rankin’s criminal convictions The author of the acclaimed Inspector Rebus novels has got a passion for social justice – and a Quick Reads title on the way.
By Astrid Stubbs
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rowing up in a small mining community gave the UK’s best-selling crime writer and now Quick Reads contributor Ian Rankin a long-standing belief that together we are stronger. “I grew up in a coal mining community in West Central Fife and everything good that happened in the town seemed to happen because the miners made it happen,” says the creator of the
world-renowned Inspector Rebus novels. “If a library was needed, they all chipped in to buy it, if a bowling green was needed, that’s where the money came from and, eventually, a swimming pool – all paid for by the coal miners.” With four coal-mining uncles and a dad who worked in the dockyards, it’s no surprise that he started believing “unity is strength” from a very young age. “There was a wonderful sense of solidarity and belonging and you could see positive things
Ian Rankin biography Born in Fife in 1960, Ian Rankin graduated from the University of Edinburgh in 1982, and took a string of jobs in the UK and France – including grape-picker, swineherd, tax official, alcohol researcher, hi-fi journalist, college secretary and punk musician – before becoming a full-time writer. His first Rebus novel, Knots And Crosses, was published in 1987, and the 17th, Exit Music, last year. His latest novel is Doors Open, published earlier this year. A contributor to BBC2’s Newsnight Review, he also presented his own TV series, Ian Rankin’s Evil Thoughts. Ian has been awarded honorary doctorates from the Universities of Abertay, St Andrews, Edinburgh, Hull and the Open University. He has been elected a Hawthornden Fellow, is a past winner of the prestigious Chandler-Fulbright Award and was recently elected Edinburgh University’s Alumnus of the Year. When he received the OBE for services to literature, he opted to receive the prize in his home city of Edinburgh, where he lives with his partner Miranda and two sons, Jack and Kit.
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happening as a result of that,” he says. In the wide range of jobs he took after leaving Edinburgh University and before becoming a full-time writer, he always joined the union whenever he could. He was a civil service union member while working for the tax office in Edinburgh and a NALGO member when he took a job at what was then Middlesex Polytechnic in the 1980s. He published his first Inspector Rebus novel, Knots And Crosses, in 1987, kicking off a series that has topped the bestseller lists on several continents and been translated into 26 languages. Several of the books have been adapted for television, the first series with John Hannah as the lead, later replaced by Ken Stott. His most famous creation is an anarchist at heart, he says. “When he’s faced with corporate injustice that’s when he’s at his most fierce: Rebus would have been hard left, old Labour if anything,” he says. But he’s not likely to feature in a Rankin novel any time soon. “I think he’s gone – he’s not in the comic novel I’m writing, not in the new book, Doors Open, not in the Quick Read and I don’t think he’s in the new novel I’m planning,” he says. continued over >
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Crime fiction and thrillers by US writers Michael Connelly and George Pelecanos, plus Denise Mina and Alex Gray, who write novels set in Glasgow. Plus Mark Thomas’ new book, Belching Out The Devil: Global Adventures with Coca-Cola, which lays bare the full impact of the US soft drinks giant on the world.
Photo: Jess Hurd
What’s Ian reading?
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» Interview » Ian Rankin “As long as a project comes along that doesn’t have a place for him, I won’t be writing about him.” Even though earlier this year he became the first recipient of the Edinburgh Award for his outstanding contribution to the cultural and social landscape of the city, his hardboiled books paint a picture of the Scottish capital quite at odds with the version in the tourist brochures. “I use the crime novel to look at social issues and problems: at heart, that’s what the crime novel should be about – the mess we’ve got into, how we got into it and what we are going to do about it,” he says. “There’s always a subtext to my work and it’s usually political.” In fact, Ian believes his work is developing a more overtly political tone. His new novel, Doors Open, out now, centres on corruption and the art world and he’s also keen to take up the issues of Scottish Independence and the environment in future works. “Writing stopped being a hobby and started being a profession much the same time as my two kids came along and you start to think about the world you’re going to leave behind for them,” he says. “And although an individual can have a go at changing the world, there’s a lot more chance if we can get the politicians and corporations to do it for us.” Politicians of all colours read Ian’s work – Gordon Brown is a fan. “I want them to know we’re watching them,” he says. With such a strong sense of social justice, it’s little wonder that he agreed to add his voice to the Quick Reads canon with his book, A Cool Head, a gritty thriller set in Scotland. “I’ve got an interest in literacy anyway – writers need people to be
able to read or they won’t buy the books!” he says. Ian is a member of a commission set up by the Labour Party in Scotland to examine the state of literacy in the country. He’s also a passionate advocate of schemes that help prisoners with literacy problems to read and improve their chances of changing their lives when they leave. Even after 17 Edinburgh-based Rebus novels and numerous other works of fiction and non- fiction, he admits that writing the Quick Reads thriller gave him some headaches. “The biggest challenge was the length – it’s not like a short story, more like a condensed novel,” he explains. Unusually, the hero is Gravy, a graveyard worker with special needs (one of Rankin’s two sons also has profound special needs). “I’m interested in special needs and how people with special needs often do get the jobs which are seen to be at the bottom of the pile,” he says. “The thing about writing is that it’s therapeutic: when I get angry about the world I can write about it and I can deal with that anger,” he says.
Has he got any space left on his mantelpiece? Ian Rankin has won numerous awards for his novels. He’s twice won the Crime Writers Association (CWA) Short Story Dagger Award, in 1994 and 1996, and took their Gold Dagger for Fiction (for Black And Blue) in 1997. Resurrection Men won the Mystery Writers of America ‘Edgar’ Award for Best Novel in 2004 and Deutsche Krimipreis, Germany’s most prestigious award for crime fiction.
Roll on 2009! Ian Rankin joins the Quick Reads ranks next year with his thriller A Cool Head, one of seven fiction titles plus three non-fiction titles which will be published on World Book Day, Thursday 5 March 2009, at just £1.99 each. To find out more, visit www.worldbookday.com or www.niace.org.uk/quickreads
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And in 2005, he won the CWA Diamond Dagger for Lifetime Achievement, while Fleshmarket Close won the British Book Award for Crime Thriller of the Year and Set In Darkness carried off France’s most prestigious award for crime fiction, the Grand Prix du Roman Policier. In 2007 he repeated his success at the British Book Awards, winning the Crime Thriller of the Year for The Naming of the Dead.
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Ian Rankin « Interview « Photos: Jess Hurd
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Go on, tell us your story We’ve all got great stories to tell from our working lives – and now’s your chance to get them into print. Unionlearn and Quick Reads have got together to find 20 top story-tellers from the trade union movement to fill a collection of short, real-life stories about the world of work to be published in March 2010. “I’m thrilled that members are getting the chance to tell their own stories: I know that there are some amazing personal stories and experiences out there that deserve a wider audience,” says TUC Deputy General Secretary Frances O’Grady. Quick Reads chair Gail Rebuck (CEO of publishers Random House) is equally enthusiastic. “We’ve worked closely with unionlearn for many years and this wonderful new opportunity to encourage members to tell their stories will hopefully be another major step in building a vibrant, book-reading community,” she says. Entrants must be members of trade unions and write about real-life experiences, around the
Quick Reads competition
theme of ‘work’. Remember: Quick Reads are short, fast, compulsively readable books perfect for people looking for an introduction to reading or regular readers who want a bitesized book. » Your story needs to be compelling and exciting: think about how you draw your reader into your story and how to keep them hooked until the end. » With new readers in mind, keep sentences around 15 words in length and paragraphs to around 10 lines. » Common punctuation (comma, full stops, question/exclamation marks, etc) and familiar words make reading easier, but try to avoid slang, the use of too many short words and gratuitous swear words! The closing date for entries is 31 January 2010 and each story must be between 1,500-2,500 words. For further details visit: www.unionlearn.org.uk/ QRcompetition.
Ian Rankin’s Quick Reads tips Take some advice from the master: these are Ian Rankin’s top three tips for anyone thinking of trying their hand at a Quick Reads story for the unionlearn title in 2010. You’ve got to have a story that you think would be interesting – an anecdote or a character, something you’re passionate about that makes you think about
1
the way the world turns. Then grit your teeth and write the thing. Don’t panic: people get scared of the first sentence, paragraph and page: just write the story. Once you’ve written it down then you can polish as much as you like. Don’t polish till you’re finished.
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» Briefing » Supporting learners
Let us be your
helping han The Climbing Frame, the learning and careers advice service, new print and online resources for ULRs – they’ve all been developed through the Supporting Learners project. This is your guide to what’s been achieved so far.
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roviding union learning reps with the knowledge and skills to help their members access lifelong learning opportunities is always at the top of unionlearn’s agenda, which is why it’s been running the Supporting Learners (IAG) project. Developed with financial backing from the EQUAL High Road programme, the project has been a major success. It’s put in place an overarching strategy, based on the network model (a system of partner agencies with the ULR at the centre), and created new resources to make life easier for the ever-increasing army of learning reps up and down the country. A key development of the project was the creation of the unionlearn learning and careers advice service, launched last summer. The new service allows ULRs and other reps to call the dedicated freephone number (08000 92 91 90) to access all the services offered by the unionlearn
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Careers Advice, customised for the union audience. Jenny Wilson, a ULR with PCS at the Land Registry in Stevenage, likes the advice line because it provides her with a one-stop shop for information. “Otherwise I’d have to do a lot more research and digging around to find out what I need,” she explains. In addition, unionlearn has developed the Climbing Frame, the user-friendly electronic tool to help ULRs help learners and promote learning in the workplace. Launched at last year’s TUC Congress, the Climbing Frame
allows learners to plan their own learning pathways, enables ULRs to track their members’ progress and can be integrated with employers’ own development programmes. Prospect ULR Judith Schofield, who has piloted the Climbing Frame at the Valuation Office, says it will make her job much easier. “It’s marvellous to have all the information in one place – not just general internet information, but lots of links to the resources that are available in the department itself, which people aren’t always aware of,” she says. Unionlearn has also established the “Supporting Learners” area of its website, which is where ULRs and other union reps can find a wide range of information and resources, including: ● learning and careers resources (eg, CV builder, skills and interests assessment) ● Supporting Learners guides for ULRs ● case studies ● help with achieving the matrix standard for IAG ● publications, research and strategy. Unionlearn has also been
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Supporting learners « Briefing «
nds improving the training it offers to ULRs through the Supporting Learners project. TUC Education is currently piloting new Open College Network-accredited training modules which cover Supporting Learners, Mentoring and Recording Progress with Learners. In addition, it’s developed a set of new Supporting Learners guides which all ULRs will now receive during their basic training (they’re also available for order or for download), covering four key areas: ● Supporting learners: why it’s important to support learners; interviewing members; finding and giving information; keeping records. ● Sources of help: information about local network organisations, the services they offer and how they can work with you. ● The ULR role: the skills you need to support learners; how to develop your skills further; how to quality-assure your work. ● Useful extras: information about the unionlearn network model; how and where to find learning opportunities; useful websites; glossary. Because ULRs routinely work with other agencies, unionlearn has also been busy developing its network with other key organisations in the lifelong learning sector: ● The Careers Advice service (telephone and online services) ● nextstep (face-to-face services) ● Sector Skills Councils (labour market information, occupational standards, qualifications). It’s developed strong working relationships with all these organisations which have been formalised in Memoranda of
Understanding, joint agreements and action plans at regional and national level. And it’s worked with the Union Learning Fund team to add a new Supporting Learners theme to the Fund criteria, so that from this year, ULF projects can ensure learners are supported and given the information and advice they need to keep their learning on track. “There’s no doubt that the project has achieved what it set out to,” says unionlearn consultant Lesley Haughton. “There is now a unionlearn strategy and model for Supporting Learners in place. Good progress has been made to develop and activate links with the careers information and advice network at a national and a regional level, new resources for union reps
supporting union learners are available and new accredited training modules are also available.” The challenge now is to maintain the momentum now that the EQUAL funding has come to an end. “We need to regularly review and update the strategy and the resources for ULRs; develop further relationships with careers information and advice providers at national, regional and local level; and encourage unions to embed the strategy in their own work,” she says. Most crucially, there’s the development and implementation of the new adult advancement and careers service which is due to come into operation by 2010. “We hope to see an improvement in services for working people, and in delivery in the workplace. Unionlearn, unions and ULRs must have a clear role in delivering the new service,” she says.
For more information... You can download guides for ULRs, case studies, research reports, information about the Climbing Frame and gaining the matrix standard at the Supporting Learners section of the unionlearn website. www.unionlearn.org.uk/advice/index.cfm
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» Roundup » TUC Education with unionlearn Health Secretary Alan Johnson (centre) and the then Business Secretary John Hutton welcome students to No. 10
Downing Street invite for summer school A trip to Downing Street and a meeting with Health Minister Alan Johnson were part of the fourth annual women officers’ summer school in London during the summer. This year’s event focused on organising, leadership and women’s participation in the work of unions. The school is aimed at union women professional officers and designed to build their knowledge, skills and confidence, motivating them to become more widely involved in
union activity and higher positions in the trade union movement. “I think this course is very special and all union women professional officers got something really useful out of the it,” says Southern and Eastern Regional Education Officer Angela Perry. “It was also a real plus having guest speakers that you would not normally get a chance to speak with so frankly about their experience of climbing the ladder in the trade union movement.”
The students were positive about the course
“This course has really enr iched my life as I feel I have a broadened my knowledge and personally have learnt inform ation from other participants, wh ich has put my life onto a cle arer path - the course was fan tastic!”
“I think I would be ate better able to educ urces so re reps about the able ail and opportunities av to them.”
“It’s rekindled my interest - it’s given me the energy to pursue more.”
Practising what he preaches Unite the union ULR James Walker enrolled on a new Certificate in Professional Development (CPD) in Union Learning course because, he says: “I wanted to practise what I preach – learning! The course is for ULRs, project workers, officers and trade unionists active or interested in union learning. It is accessible to anyone, whether or not they have studied in higher education before. It aims to help participants to develop their understanding of what is happening in the world of lifelong and union learning as well as the wider context in which learning takes place. “I hadn’t realised how long the trade union movement had been involved in workers’ education!” James says.
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Course content includes the history of trade union education, learning in the workplace and the relationship of union learning to union bargaining and organising. The course is run by the Centre for Trade Union Studies at London Metropolitan University in conjunction with the Working Lives Research Institute. Students can complete the full certificate over two years. The course is currently delivered in the London region, but can be developed outside London if there is a demand from unions. “The library staff and tutors have given me great support, which is really important when you’ve been away from learning for a while,” says James. “The course has helped me reflect on my day-to-day role as a ULR, and I’ve met great people and now have a network of trade union colleagues to discuss things with.”
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TUC Education with unionlearn « Roundup «
Could you learn online?
Nigel’s come home Taking on the job of programme coordinator at the new Ruskin College trade union centre is like coming home for Nigel Williams. Nigel is a former student at Ruskin, the Oxford college set up in 1899 to offer university standard education for the labour and trade union movement. A former CPSA union activist, Nigel took the one-year certificate in Labour Studies at Ruskin in 1997. “I’m delighted and humbled to have the opportunity to come back and work here in this well-respected environment, which is such an important part of the labour movement,” he says. “It’s fantastic for the TUC to build on the historic links between the college and the labour movement.” The new centre, located in Ruskin’s city centre site, will offer a full range of courses for reps, including ULRs, across Oxfordshire and the adjoining areas. It will be officially opened in December by TUC General Secretary Brendan Barber (Ruskin graduate John Prescott has also been invited). “Having TUC Education provision at Ruskin is great news for union reps in Oxfordshire,” says Regional Education Officer Rob Hancock.
a) Can you complete tasks without direct supervision? b) Do you work best when there’s someone to keep you focused?
“If the enthusiasm of all Ruskin staff to support this work is anything to go by, it should be a fantastic success.” Principal Audrey Mullender says the college is not looking backwards or resting on its laurels. “Responding to the priorities of the 21st century, it now has progression pathways covering learning needs from short courses for members and representatives right up to postgraduate degrees,” she explains. “Ruskin’s new TUC Centre is unique in offering the chance to move on to take a degree in International Labour and Trade Union Studies. “Even a three-day course puts Ruskin on your CV and makes you part of a rich heritage, giving you the right to join the Ruskin Fellowship and meet trade unionists with a lifetime of experience. Come for longer, and Ruskin will undoubtedly change your life.” For details of degree courses at Ruskin, visit www.ruskin.ac.uk For more information about TUC courses, email Nigel: nwilliams@ruskin.ac.uk
a) Can you prioritise your own workload? b) Do you tend to put tasks off for later? a) Do you learn best from reading text and assignments? b) Do you learn best from spoken or visual presentations? a) Do you enjoy learning new computer or technology skills? b) Does the thought of having to learn new PC technology skills make you anxious? a) Do you usually understand written instructions? b) Is it better for you to have steps or points explained by someone? a) Do you enjoy taking on new projects? b) Do you prefer to avoid them? a) Is it important for you to discuss course work with other peers? b) Can you assess your own efforts? Ruskin College Principal Audrey Mullender welcomes TUC Programme Coordinator Nigel Williams to the college
a) Are you well organised in terms of time management? b) Do you tend to have problems with completing projects? If you answered mostly A’s, online learning could be for you. To find out about the TUC Education’s online learning programe download the latest prospectus from: http://tinyurl.com/3t33ro
Did you know? The number of union reps trained each year has doubled since 1997 from under 26,000 to nearly 53,000 in 2008. autumn 2008 «
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» Roundup » TUC Education with unionlearn
The Western approach Our focus on the South West kicks off with Gloucester College tutor David James The Buddhists say that a teacher has done their job well if a student goes on to surpass them. Gloucestershire College trade union tutor David James would agree that’s certainly been the case with his ex-student Marie Hughes, now education officer for unionlearn’s South West region, and effectively his boss! Marie was an USDAW rep working for Tesco when she took her first steps on the path to her current job with a course at the college. “I’m thrilled to see where she is now – she’s a great education officer,” says David. Like Marie, trade unionists have been using the college’s trade union education unit as a launch-pad for learning for the last 30 years.
The full range of unionlearn programmes is on offer. In addition, David and colleagues are responding to the zeitgeist with a growing portfolio of online courses. In a region with a significant number of Polish workers, the college also helps organise among migrants with a 30-week course in Polish to help reps support their colleagues. “The course has been very successful: as a result, Polish reps have now been elected shop stewards in a couple of workplaces
“Trade unionists have been using the college as a launch-pad for 30 years”
David James addresses his newest class of union students
Did you know? In 2007, unionlearn trained almost 3,500 reps across the South West, continuing its year-on-year increases.
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locally,” explains David. In addition to having a major aerospace industry, the region also has a large number of public sector employers. And thanks to the end of the trade union ban at GCHQ at Cheltenham, the centre is now also able to welcome PCS members from the Government’s communications HQ. “We’re also now going out and talking to people at the beginning of courses to find out what they want and how to pitch what we do in order to respond to changes, for example around computer training,” says David. “We serve the county well and are well-known tutors who respond to our unions and have great relations with them in the region.”
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TUC Education with unionlearn « Roundup «
Tolpuddle goes green Over 30 union members attended the Green Camp at Tolpuddle festival to complete the TUC Education Environment course and become green reps. The course gave participants an overview of how climate change and environmental matters are at the heart of the trade union movement and how reps can raise awareness and take practical action within their workplaces. It enabled reps to gain ideas on how to raise the profile of green issues. It also gave them ideas about bargaining with employers on green issues. Lu White, Green Workplaces Project Leader from the South
West TUC, discussed highlights of the new Green Workplaces Project, which aims to support union green reps in the South West who are driving the sustainability agenda within their workplaces. The main aim of the project is to enable reps to bring about a joint approach to greening the workplace – by bringing the workforce on board with specific workplace issues and ensuring environmental improvement measures are not forced upon workers by management. For more details of the project contact lwhite@tuc.org.uk
What revolution was that then? It’s a long time since women gained the right to equal pay and even longer since the vote was won. But women are still paid on average 17 per cent less than men and in parts of the South West the gap is as high as 30 per cent. There are now even more tools available to negotiators, such as the right to request part-time work and the public sector duty to promote gender equality. So there should be a revolution happening for women at work in terms of pay, the type of work available part-time and the way they’re treated by employers and colleagues. Whether that revolution is actually happening was the
theme of a seminar attended by over two dozen women trade unionists across the region. “It gave them a real chance to think about the progress women have made and what we want to do next,” says Regional Education Officer Marie Hughes. “The event is directly feeding into a large national conference we’ll run next June as – surprise surprise – the revolution hasn’t happened for lots of women!” The seminar showed the work TUC Education does throughout the region to support the TUC’s Regional Executive, Regional Council and the Equalities Committees.
Racecourse relaunch is galloping success Unionlearn relaunched U-Net provision in the South West with an event at Exeter Racecourse attended by over 75 delegates in the summer. TUC National Education Manager Liz Rees talked about the history of trade union education over the last 30 years and how the U-Net provision was a real additional benefit for reps and members. This was followed by a series of bite-sized sessions demonstrating how U-Net fits into unionlearn, including: ● How to turn a learning centre into a U-Net centre or use the services of U-Net. ● The chance to ask a regional union learning organiser and a ULR about working with U-Net in the region. ● How U-Net is linked to the training of union reps and ULRs in the South West. “The day provided an excellent opportunity to demonstrate U-Net’s unique position within unionlearn and to discuss its vital role as a provider of flexible online learning opportunities,” explained U-net Support Officer Elaine Dobson.
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» Roundup » Higher level learning
Julie gets nourished at OU After leaving school with seven O Levels, Unite the union member Julie Martin-Molyneux took a job with Lloyds TSB and said goodbye to formal learning for 23 years. Although Julie had completed inhouse, job-related training and studied Spanish, she hadn’t thought about further learning during her time with the company. That was until the ULR at her workplace recommended an Open University course. Julie looked at the prospectus and called the OU helpline, which helped address her concerns about going back into education. She chose to study Understanding Human Nutrition and received 50 per cent funding for the course via the Trade Unions Aimhigher Project. “Back then, I wasn’t entirely sure I was going to be intelligent enough to do it but I was so interested,” she explains. The course was online and textbook-based with an end of course assessment. Julie found the workload manageable and was able to
balance it with her other commitments. She had support from her ULR and the online forums with other students on her course. “It was brilliant and I loved it. It was such a fascinating subject, which has affected the life of my family and made me so much more aware of healthy living,” Julie says. She’s now completed the course and has already chosen the next – Molecules, Medicines and Drugs: A Chemical Story. “I can’t wait for the books to arrive! My ULR has been so moved by my enthusiasm that she has also signed up for a short course herself!” she adds. Julie’s story is one of many heartwarming tales in a new publication, Trade Unions Aim Higher, which looks at the experiences of learners who have taken part in higher education with support from their union.
The OU nutrition course has changed Julie and her family
Most of the learners are new to higher-level learning. The case studies show the wide variety of learners unions can help into higher learning and illustrate the different ways unions help them, including publicising the Open University 10 per cent discount for union learners. “The case studies show the importance of taking the learning offer to the workplace, helping people know more about what is out there for them and offering support to help them, if needed,” says unionlearn Standards and Quality Manager Ian Borkett. “The successes so far show the need for further work between unions, the higher education sector and employers so that even more working people can take up higher level learning opportunities.” Download the publication from http://tinyurl.com/482m8d
Study doesn’t have to be taxing for HMRC staff Two unions representing tax and customs officers at HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) have signed a learning agreement with their management that will make it easier for all staff to find the learning they need. The unions and the HMRC will now work together to help all staff, whether in a union or not, to get the skills they need to do their current job or progress in their career. This could range from literacy, maths, IT skills, or speaking English if it’s not someone’s first language – to developing managers’ professional skills. The agreement was signed by
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the HMRC’s two unions, the Public and Commercial Services union and the Association of Revenue and Customs (part of the FDA), and HMRC chairman Mike Clasper. “I’m delighted to have been invited to sign this agreement and look forward to seeing the increased benefits that it brings,” Mike said. FDA General Secretary Jonathan Baume said the agreement further developed the union’s positive relationship with HMRC. “We’re now meeting senior officials to develop our partnership around the skills agenda and expect agreements in other departments to follow soon,” he said.
Under the agreement, staff can obtain guidance and support from managers and also speak to ULRs, who can give information and advice (in complete confidence if preferred) and access to training outside HMRC such as at a local college.
Signing up for learning at HMRC (from left): HM Revenue and Customs Chair Mike Clasper, PCS Learning Project Manager Tony Walsh and ARC President Terry Cook
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unionlearn Board « Interview «
We’re here to stay The last 10 years has seen union learning embedded in the trade union movement’s culture, according to Billy Hayes, who’s chaired the board for the last two years. “As with the minimum wage, now that union learning is embedded, it’s very difficult to see it being rolled back,” he says. When it comes to union learning, the Government and unions are singing from the same hymn sheet, he reckons. “Union Learning Fund support has been a crucial factor in training 2,000 ULRs who are now helping 200,000 members a year access learning,” he points out. And he praises Skills Secretary John Denham for consulting on the new right to request time to train. “This would be a welcome addition which would enable us to do more to tackle the training divide,” he says. “It would also mean unions would be in a stronger position than ever before to help their members get on.” As chair of the unionlearn Board, he knows union learning has been a major success, benefitting workers who were failed by school and failed again by their employers. “Many people’s experience of school is a bit debilitating and unions tend to give people selfconfidence and that’s why union learning is so powerful and positive,” he argues. “It’s good for improving people’s chances but it’s also good in an allround holistic way for their selfconfidence,” he says. So often, the experience of union learning can be lifechanging. “People keep telling me that union learning is the best thing they have ever done,” he says. “The success of union learning
Photo: Jess Hurd
Union learning has become embedded in the trade union movement, says unionlearn board Chair Billy Hayes.
Billy Hayes addresses delegates at this year’s TUC Congress in Brighton
“It’s been quite a surprise to see how liberating union learning has been” is a bit humbling and it’s been quite a surprise to see how liberating it has been.” He’s delighted at how union learning has seen such positive interaction between unions. “There was a degree of scepticism about the learning agenda so it’s great to remind
people how successful it is,” he says. He’s also proud of the knock-on effect learning has had on organising, helping unions pick up new members through courses but also injecting existing members with new interest in their unions. Should he get the odd moment between the Board and his work as General Secretary of the Communication Workers Union, Billy says he’d like the chance to take a course himself and brush up his computer skills.
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» contacts
unionlearn contacts All TUC email addresses are first initial followed by surname@tuc.org.uk
» Unionlearn
» Southern and Eastern
Tel: 020 7079 6920 Fax: 020 7079 6921 unionlearn@tuc.org.uk www.unionlearn.org.uk Director Liz Smith Tel: 020 7079 6922 lsmith@tuc.org.uk
Tel: 020 7467 1251 Regional manager Barry Francis Union Development Coordinator Jon Tennison Regional Education Officers Rob Hancock Angela Perry
» National unionlearn managers
» Midlands
Standards and Quality Ian Borkett Tel: 020 7079 6940 iborkett@tuc.org.uk Research and Strategy Bert Clough Tel: 020 7079 6925 bclough@tuc.org.uk Business and Finance Matthew Fernandez-Graham Tel: 020 7079 6936 mfernandez-graham@tuc.org.uk Communications Mike Power Tel: 020 7079 6942 mpower@tuc.org.uk Trade Union Education Liz Rees Tel: 020 7079 6923 lrees@tuc.org.uk Union Development Judith Swift Tel: 0151 243 2568 jswift@tuc.org.uk Development Officer (ULF) Catherine McClennan Tel: 07795 606 982 cmcclennan@tuc.org.uk
Tel: 0121 236 4454 Regional manager Mary Alys Union Development Coordinator Gary O’Donnell Regional Education Officer Pete Try
» Northern Regional manager Barney McGill Tel: 0191 227 5552 Union Development Coordinator Elizabeth Killoran Tel: 0191 227 5557 Regional Education Officer Ian West Tel: 0191 227 5572
» North West
Helen Gagliasso Tel: 0191 227 5567 hgagliasso@tuc.org.uk
Regional Manager Dave Eva Tel: 0151 236 5366 Union Development Coordinator Tony Saunders Liverpool office Tel: 0151 243 2574 Manchester office Tel: 0161 445 0077 Regional Education Officer Peter Holland Tel: 0151 243 2564
» Website
» South West
Jay Sreedharan Tel: 020 7079 6943 jsreedharan@tuc.org.uk
Regional Manager Tel: 0117 947 0521 Helen Cole Union Development Coordinator Ros Etheridge
» U-Net centres
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Regional Development Workers: Bristol Alan Shearn Tel: 0117 947 0521 Cornwall Geoff Hale Tel: 01209 611 604 Regional Education Officer Marie Hughes Tel: 0117 933 4443
» Yorkshire and the Humber Tel: 0113 245 4909 Regional Manager Alan Roe Union Development Coordinator Sharon Burke, Regional Education Officer Trevor Sargison Tel: 0113 200 1071
» Union contacts Aspect Judith Hibbert Tel: 07968 322 969 judith.hibbert@ntlworld.com ATL Mark Holding Tel: 020 7782 1596 mholding@atl.org.uk BECTU Brian Kelly Tel: 020 7346 0900 bkelly@bectu.org.uk BFAWU Dorban Ippoma Tel: 020 8801 0980 dorban58@yahoo BSU Vikki Botham Tel: 07717 805 521 vikki.powell@britannia.co.uk Connect Kirsi Kekki Tel: 020 8971 6052 kirsi.kekki@connectuk.org CWU Trish Lavelle Tel: 020 8971 7340 tlavelle@cwu.org Equity Louise Grainger Tel: 020 7670 0214 lgrainger@equity.org.uk FBU Trevor Shanahan Tel: 07917 75 9473 trevor.shanahan@fbu.org.uk FDA Neil Rider Tel: 020 7401 5575 neil@fda.org.uk
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resources «
Jay knows MU Pauline Dalby Tel: 020 7840 5516 pd1@musiciansunion.org.uk NAPO Ranjit Singh Tel: 07943 827 353 rsingh@napo.org.uk NASUWT Jennifer Moses, Stephen Smith Tel: 0121 453 6150 lifelong.learning@mail.nasuwt.org.uk NUJ Linda King Tel: 020 7843 3717 lindak@nuj.org.uk NUT Andrew Parry Williams Tel: 020 7380 4800/4780 learning.reps@nut.org.uk PCS David McEvoy Tel: 020 7801 2727 ext 2360 david.mcevoy@pcs.org.uk PFA Alan Irwin Tel: 07717 467 718 ieteuk@yahoo.co.uk POA Andy Rowett Tel: 07917 699 210 poaulf@yahoo.co.uk Prospect Rachel Bennett Tel: 020 7902 6687 Rachel.Bennett@prospect.org.uk RCN Linda McBride Tel: 020 7647 3855 linda.mcbride@rcn.org.uk RMT Teresa Williams Tel: 020 7529 8820 t.williams@rmt.org.uk TSSA Jon Clark Tel: 020 7387 2101 clarkj@tssa.org.uk UCATT Jeff Hopewell Tel: 01302 360 725 jhopewell@ucatt.org.uk UNISON Pam Johnson Tel: 020 7551 1267 pam.johnson@unison.co.uk Unite Tom Beattie Tel: 020 8462 7755 tom.beattie@unitetheunion.org Unite Jim Mowatt Tel: 020 7611 2628 jmowatt@unitetheunion.org Unity Gerald Crookes Tel: 01782 280 588 geraldcrookes@unitytheunion.org.uk URTU Graham Cooper Tel: 07795 562 874 grahamcurtu@yahoo.co.uk USDAW Ann Murphy Tel: 0161 224 2804 ann.murphy@usdaw.org.uk
Jay Sreedharan, unionlearn’s website officer, answers some recent questions raised by site visitors Q We have a learning agreement in my workplace but union membership is quite low and I would like to recruit new members, although recruitment isn’t mentioned in the learning agreement. Would it be OK for me to do it anyway? A The simple answer is yes – recruitment is an important part of all union reps work. And how you embed this into your role and other duties is up to you. Promoting learning and skills is a fantastic way to encourage potential new members to join the union. When planning your recruitment activity you should map your workplace so that you know where your members and nonmembers are. And always have
membership application forms with you at all times. Don’t forget teamwork. Involve other union reps in any recruitment initiative you are planning. Arrange a meeting to discuss recruitment and organising in your workplace. You could even structure it around an organising-for-learning activity, some of which are contained in the booklet, ‘Organising for learning’, downloadable from www.unionlearn.org.uk/LOcasestudy. Unionlearn offers training in organising skills for representatives, both in the classroom and online, so if you’d like to find out more go to www.unionlearn.org.uk
Getting started with learning and organising: ten top tips
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Publicise and promote the union and what it offers. Map all union activities and identify what learning and skills opportunities there are. Identify how other workplace issues can be used to involve members e.g. health and safety, equality, consultation with the employer. Talk to members and conduct surveys to find out what learning and skills they want and link it with recruitment to the union. Find out what the employers needs are for upskilling the workforce. Organise regular learning taster sessions to get people interested.
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Ensure union reps and ULRs are known in the workplace and are easily contactable e,. photos and contact details are displayed. Ensure learning is included on all union agendas and features in union newsletters, notice-boards and publicity. Plan ahead so that all events feature union and ULR activities. Build in report backs and reviews from ULRs at all union and workplace meetings. Start to plan a learning agreement to formalise time off and learning facilities.
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Resources « Roundup «
Free
publications and DVDs
Order now from www.unionlearn.org.uk/freebooks And postage and packing is also free
Write here, write now! This A5 leaflet contains details of unionlearn’s new story writing competition. Unionlearn is seeking short stories about working life for its Quick Read book that will be published in 2010. A copy of the leaflet is enclosed with this edition of the Learning Rep. Order copies now as the closing date for entries is 31 January. More details at www.unionlearn.org.uk/ QRcompetition
Working for Learners Newly reprinted – now back in stock Every ULR should have a copy of this important, comprehensive publication. Working for Learners covers learning and organising, benefits of ULRs, functions and rights, ULR agreements, ULR activities, ULR training, and support for learning. Plus a jargon buster, resources list and contacts.
Charter for workplace learning NIACE publication giving learners’ views on what works. The charter lists the 10 key factors that those in workplace learning consider to be most important. Online learning with TUC Education – a guide to courses Everything you need to know about TUC Education’s online courses. The courses and programme are explained. The publication also answers frequently asked questions, and anwers the question: is online learning for me? It also provides an interesting profile of an online learner.
Trade unions aim higher A whole range of case studies in this publication tell the stories of trade union members who have moved into higher level learning. Many of them took courses through the Open University. See story on page 28.
Order your DVDs before they run out Local heroes – the importance of ULRs Spread the word about the important work done by ULRs. Some 6,000 copies of this film are out there – help to take the message even further.
Kate and Umar’s incredible learning journey This 10 minute animated film adds a new dimension to meetings and courses.
Our Second Year: unionlearn annual report 2008 Find out about unionlearn’s work over the last year in the annual report. It contains all the information you need plus its design is accessible, clear and provides excellent photographic case studies of learners.
Spread the word about the work of ULRs and learning project workers by ordering more copies of the Learning Rep. Give them to colleagues at work, learners and anyone interested in union learning.