Learning Works - Winter 2011

Learning Works www.unionlearn.org.uk/southwest » News from unionlearn with the South West TUC Winter 2011

In this issue »

Digital inclusion >>p2

Unions help find new jobs >>p6

Apprentices go to London >>p8

MP visits Cornish learning centre

Unionlearn tells MP unions have been making a major difference to workers MP Stephen Gilbert visited Cornwall’s union learning centre in September.

During his hour-long stay at the St Austell centre, the town’s MP met some of the county’s busiest union learning reps (ULRs), hearing first hand about how unions are changing the culture of learning across the Cornish workforce and declaring ‘My door is always open to trade unions’.

Rob Garrett, unionlearn’s Senior Union Support Officer, said: “It was good to have the opportunity to explain about the wonderful work trade unions and their ULRs have been doing in Cornwall.

“This type of activity is often overlooked, but people need to hear how we have all been beavering away behind the scenes, slowly and surely making major differences to the lot of workers in Cornwall.”

The Liberal Democrat MP heard the unionlearn centre was at the heart of delivering education to those who needed it most, courtesy of the Cornish European Social Fund’s Convergence Projects.

Carrie Mann, from the Cornwall unionlearn team, said: “This is a place for the unions to join forces and make positive changes, a place for workers to learn and feel valued and

Rob Garrett (SUSO), Carrie Mann (USO), Jackie Pomeroy (Tutor u-net Learning Centre), Kevin Maggs (GMB ULR A&P Falmouth Ltd), Stephen Roberts (Cornwall College), Sue Kessell (JobCentrePlus), Geoff Hodge (CWU ULR BT), Simon Collier (PCS ULR HMRC), Stephen Gilbert MP, Kris Jane (USDAW Mobile UL)

“This is a place for the unions to join forces and make positive changes, a place for workers to learn and feel valued and supported in the challenges they face, and a place for workers worried about their future to get advice from friendly, caring staff”

supported in the challenges they face, and place for workers worried about their future to get advice from friendly, caring staff.”

Partners from Jobcentreplus, Cornwall College and Truro & Penwith College were also present and joined in the discussion about the importance of raising the aspirations of the local workforce as a way of improving the economy of the area and improving the quality of life for all workers in Cornwall.

WOW!

Unions wear their art on their sleeves

Report and photos on pages 4 and 5.

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Learning Works Winter 2011

Go on, get on by getting online Trade unions in the South West are encouraging their members to use the internet.

Tim Lezard calls into a unionlearn event to find out why.

You may find it hard to believe in an age of emails, Facebook and YouTube, but there are a staggering 8.7m adults in the UK who have never used the internet.

Once you’ve got over this shock, however, you might be less surprised to learn that 39% of the ‘digitally excluded’ are over 65, that 38% of them are unemployed or that 19% of them are families with children.

Elaine Dobson, “but let’s start with the employment argument.”

“There are so many reasons why it makes sense for people to learn how to use computers,” says unionlearn’s

“For these people we use the financial reason for getting online,” says Elaine.

“Households can save an average £560 a year from shopping and paying bills online – by using the computer wisely and seeking out bargains, you could find it pays for itself within twelve months.

“There are so many benefits of getting online and we think trade unions have an important role to play in promoting social inclusion by banishing digital exclusion”

“The final reason is the family. Not only helping you to keep in touch with faraway relatives, but helping your children to boost their educational performance – and their lifetime earnings – by using online resources.

“There are so many benefits of getting online and we think trade unions have an important role to play in promoting social inclusion by banishing digital exclusion.”

It’s easy for trade unions to get involved by becoming a UK Online Centre if you already have

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» Shirley Bowden

(Usdaw)

(Usdaw)

“We promote our courses to members and non-members, trying to encourage older members to go online and work with computers. The biggest barrier is age because they are used to doing things manually so the computer is a totally different environment.”

“I’m severely dyslexic and would really like to get back into learning. I hope that doing it myself might inspire and encourage other people to do it as well. I’m quite computer illiterate. My old man’s really good with computers but all I seem to do is break them.”

“And if you need an extra incentive, people with good IT skills earn between 3 and 10% more than workers without those skills.”

Many people in workplaces, especially older workers or those whose jobs entail limited use of technology, are not confident using computers. Breaking through this barrier is often a problem for unions.

Unionlearn has run events in computer literacy in Bristol, Bodmin and Bournemouth. Here’s what some delegates said: » Alex Abraham

“Nine out of ten new jobs require basic internet skills, so unemployed workers, or those at risk of losing their jobs, can improve their job prospects by getting online.”

The statistics were laid bare at a conference in Bodmin in October, entitled Go On: Get Online; Get a Lifeline and attended by some 30 delegates from unions across the South West.

“There are people who have been moved out of the typing pool into clerical areas as a result of learning how to use computers”

» Andy Harding

» Malcolm Mellow unionlearn’s Elaine Dobson

“The final reason is the family. Not only helping you to keep in touch with faraway relatives, but helping your children to boost their educational performance” a learning centre, or promoting basic IT courses using Go-on courses. ULRs and union reps can sign up to become Digital Champions and help colleagues to get online for the first time.

The BBC has some fabulous courses designed around hobbies such as cooking, gardening, tracing your family tree amongst many others which are ideal to get people interested in using computers.

There are so many ways to promote Digital Inclusion. For further information on the many new initiatives please contact edobson@tuc.org.uk who can get you started on the road to getting people online.

(POA)

(Unite)

“We had a member of staff who was IT adverse, went to UKOnline, completed the modules and is now very IT savvy to the point where she is giving ULR training online. She did all that online!”

“The branch bought a number of laptops for reps to access the internet, and also to help promote awareness of training and improve numeracy and literacy skills. People are also using them for simple information, shopping online, researching... and playing games.”

» Bernie Parks (PCS)

“There are two typists at work who have started an online Microsoft course in their own time and they’ve found it useful because it’s given them more confidence in their day job as they now know about spreadsheets and Excel. There are people who have been moved out of the typing pool into clerical areas as a result of learning how to use computers.”

Images: Trevor Gliddon www.dejaviews.co.uk

» Darren Cloake (GMB)

I’m a digital champion at work, so I bring people online explaining how they can look for a job online, save money on price comparison sites or buying theatre and cinema tickets. We’ve put several people through the initial courses and their response is always positive. I just encourage

them, show them the benefits, give them tasters, let them play and help them get on from there. The biggest barrier is age and understanding because they’re frightened they’re going to break the computers.

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Learning Works Winter 2011

“I loved the art, it was great to see Ken White’s paintings again.

All the stalls were brilliant, and I finally joined a union!”

Wiltshire unions WOW visitors to Swindon’s World of Work Keith Hatch reports on a day when more than 1,000 people popped into the Steam Museum to enjoy an event combining art, poetry, songs and photography Workers across Wiltshire wore their art on their sleeves when they organised a free event in Swindon in the autumn.

The move paid off as around 1,000 people visited the World of Work event in Swindon’s famous Steam Museum to experience a wide variety of locally-produced art, poetry, songs and photographs.

Organised by union learning reps and learning organisers, with support from unionlearn staff, the event was opened by Mayor Ray Ballman.

There were also craft activities for kids and adults alike, stalls from local colleges, trade unions and history groups, various workshops including songwriting and poetry and the launch of a book on Wiltshire’s industrial history by White Horse Trades Council.

The event was the idea of two CWU learning reps, Sandra Absalom and Paul Horwood, from Swindon’s Royal Mail depot.

CWU learning organiser Phil Sutton hailed the event a resounding success, saying: “This was a great first event and showed what unions can achieve when working together. Everyone involved learnt a great deal and are already talking about how to build on the day.”

As well as local union members the organisers were really pleased to be able to include some paintings of working life in Swindon’s factories by local artist Ken White and The Last Post, a travelling exhibition from the British Postal Museum.

The feedback has been brilliant so far, with lots of people

praising the art and children’s activities.

Visitor Dawn Sparkes commented: “I loved the art, it was great to see Ken White’s paintings again. All the stalls were brilliant, and I finally joined a union!”

Carole Vallelly from White Horse Trades Council said “It was a fantastic event and we were really pleased with the interest in our book, there is a lack of awareness in working class history in Swindon and events like this really help.”

After the event Keith Hatch from unionlearn said: “This project has been put on by the hard work of union members around Swindon and shows that trade unions are about more than pay and conditions.

“Unions are also about inspiring working people to learn new skills that benefit not only themselves, but also their workplaces, and about working with communities to enrich peoples lives.”

Already World of Work looks like becoming an annual event, and organisers are starting to talk about next year.

Images: David Morrison www.dmphotographyltd.com

Sandra, said: “This event was inspired by a similar project in Northern Ireland. We wanted to bring this idea to Swindon and have a great response.”

“It was a fantastic event and we were really pleased with the interest in our book, there is a lack of awareness in working class history in Swindon and events like this really help”

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Learning Works Winter 2011

“If, however, they’re needing to look for work outside, they’ll have some accredited qualifications behind them to support them – and thanks to the unions.”

Unions learn lessons with council tolessen redundancy impact their members and they are the people that our employees will go to when they’re facing redundancy or they feel their job is at risk to get support, so if we’re able to work closely with them we’re better able to understand some of the issues for those people and to understand what are the things that we could be doing to help support them at this time.”

Image: Trevor Gliddon www.dejaviews.co.uk

Steve Jenkins, UNISON steward and branch education co-ordinator for Cornwall Local Government Branch, agrees union input into redeployment was essential.

Cornwall Council’s redeployment manager Georgia Clements tells Tim Lezard finding staff new jobs would not be the same without unions’ help and support Union members at Cornwall Council are working closely with their employers to help workers find new jobs should they be made redundant.

Like all local authorities in the UK, the council is facing cuts to its budget and is looking to save money by employing fewer staff.

It has been here before, back in 2009, when the former district councils and county council came together to create one big unitary authority – a move that resulted in job losses.

“We put in some dedicated resources to make sure we retained skilled and valued employees wherever possible and meet our 6

legal obligation to try and redeploy people and offer them outplacement support,” explains Georgia Clements, the council’s redeployment project manager (pictured above).

“That work has continued but now we find ourselves going through a period of transformational change and again we find ourselves faced with a number of further redundancies.”

“It’s incredibly important to work with the unions because they are there to support their members and they are the people that our employees will go to when they’re facing redundancy or they feel their job is at risk to get support”

Union reps complained the council was not doing enough to help their members find new jobs but, says Georgia, that was a misunderstanding.

anything, but that the unions hadn’t been kept informed about what we were doing,” she explains.

“As a result of meeting with them we realised it wasn’t that we weren’t doing

“It’s incredibly important to work with the unions because they are there to support

“Our experience has been that the HR department at the council is itself overstretched,” he says, “and there are times when it’s quite obvious they’re finding it difficult to provide all the necessary information to the members of staff who are affected.

“Likewise, middle managers themselves may not have the experience of this sort of thing. They’ve never dealt with it in the past, perhaps, so the presence of a union rep can assist them in going through this very difficult process.”

If a job is at risk, the council will first give the individual concerned ‘priority’ status and try to find them another job within the council, either working in the same, or a similar, area.

“We want to retain our talent because a lot of it is home-grown,” says Georgia. “We’re proud of our workforce and the skills and knowledge they bring to their jobs and we don’t want to lose that completely, so where we’re able to identify other opportunities for them in the council, it’s in our interests to do that.”

If internal redeployment is not possible, the council will look at ways of improving the individual’s external job chances by helping them learn new skills, how to search for jobs and fill in application forms, and set up meetings with Next Step, the government’s adult careers information and advice service.

“We’re proud of our workforce and the skills and knowledge they bring to their jobs and we don’t want to lose that completely, so where we’re able to identify other opportunities for them in the council, it’s in our interests to do that” “We want to make sure they’re in as strong a position as possible to move on in a positive way,” says Georgia. “So either we equip them with the skills to apply for other jobs outside or to explore other opportunities like self-employment.”

Rob Garrett, unionlearn Senior Union Support Officer, and chair of the Cornwall Council / Trade Union Joint Learning Forum, agrees the partnership approach is the way forward.

“When trade unions work closely with the employer it is to the benefit of both parties,” he says. “Obviously nobody wants to see redundancies, but we’re both doing all we can to help those at risk into new employment.”

Georgia is quick to praise the role played by unions in the process, saying: “It wouldn’t be the same without the unions – definitely not – because what they are able to provide many things.

“A specific example would be funding.

They’ve got some funding they are able to offer our employees to help them to undertake accredited courses and that’s really valuable because that helps not only employees who might not formally be at risk at the moment, but also those who are at risk by helping them move and transfer to other roles, hopefully within the council.

“If, however, they’re needing to look for work outside, they’ll have some accredited qualifications behind them to support them – and thanks to the unions.”

Advice about redundancy Your employer: ■■ will often have to give notice of

redundancies and consult formally with the workforce ■■ will have to pay redundancy pay to

most staff who have worked for more than two years ■■ must not choose who gets made

redundant on the basis of their sex, race, disability, religion or belief, sexual orientation, age unless objectively justified, transgender status, pregnancy or trade union membership.

The law sets out the minimum payment you can expect to receive if you are made redundant. To be entitled to this legal minimum you must have: ■■ worked continuously for at least

two years for your employer (time you have taken off for maternity or parental leave is included) and ■■ be an employee.

The TUC has produced a guide called Facing Redundancy that contains more detailed information about redundancy procedures. You can get a copy of this from the TUC by going to www.worksmart.co.uk.

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Learning Works Winter 2011

Apprentices head to London A delegation from the South West, pictured above, travelled to London to attend the Voice of the Apprentices conference.

Apprentices from the GMB at Babcock Marine in Devon and Unite at GKN in Bristol went to the event after unions negotiated time off from their employers to enable them to attend.

This conference at Congress House was organised by unionlearn to enable apprentices to voice their opinion on every aspect of their apprenticeship and they certainly made the most of their opportunity.

The day was organised into a series of workshops to enable the apprentices to raise issues around their pay and conditions, the quality of their training and what support they expected from their unions.

Representatives from the Department for Business Innovation and Skills, The National Apprenticeship Service, UKES and regional Union Officers heard about some good experiences but also many examples of

poor practice which need to be addressed.

The day ended with closing comments from unionlearn’s Apprenticeship Policy and Campaigns Officer Fred Grindrod, Nicola Smith (TUC Head of Economic and Social Affairs) and Negat Lodhi from the National Apprenticeship Service.

Natalie Holloway-Attwood , a Unite apprentice from GKN Aerospace thought the day was a great success. “It was a chance to have our say about our apprenticeships and how things could be improved,” she said.

Alan Shearn ( Unionlearn Senior Union Support Officer) who accompanied the apprentices agreed, saying: “Providers and employers have no problem putting their views across to government and this was an opportunity for apprentices to do the same.

The South West delegates were at the forefront of the discussion and were a credit to their unions.”

Unionlearn is hoping to make this conference an annual event.

Glatfelter awards celebration Learners at Glatfelter Paper Mill were in October presented with certificates to mark their achievements.

A total of 34 employees, with help from the Royal Forest of Dean College, completed courses at the onsite learning centre.

The centre is jointly funded by Unionlearn and Glatfelter is a true 21st century learning environment, with 10 networked computers, an interactive whiteboard, two laser jet printers and a photocopier.

Diary dates ■■

Weds 29th February

Unionlearn Green Event , Albemarle Centre, Taunton.

■■

Thurs 29th March

Unionlearn Annual Conference, The Exchange, Bridgwater.

Goodbye Louise, hello Jenny We wish Louise Henderson in our St Austell team the very best of luck in her exciting new role on a higher education project in Cornwall.

Louise has worked hard on running our Cornwall projects, supporting unions and keeping everything on track.

We will miss her energy, commitment and sense of humour!

Contact unionlearn

Jenny Adams (pictured left) has been helping Louise over the last few months on a temporary basis and we are very happy to welcome her into the St Austell team.

unionlearn South West Church House, Church Road, Filton Bristol BS34 7BD t: 0117 947 0521 f: 0117 947 0523 e: unionlearnsouthwest@tuc.org.uk

Jenny will be providing administrative support and previously worked in our u-net centre in an administrative role with union learners.

All TUC publications may be made available for dyslexic or visually impaired readers, on request, in an agreed electronic format or in accessible formats such as Braille, audio tape and large print, at no extra cost. Contact the South West TUC on 0117 947 0521. Learning Works was edited by Tim Lezard lezard@elmtreecottages.co.uk.

Designed by Rumba www.rumbadesign.co.uk.

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