Learning Works www.unionlearn.org.uk/southwest
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» News from unionlearn with the South West TUC Spring 2012 Unions help find new jobs >>p4
Green Skills >>p2
Health and wellbeing >>p6
Learning lessons for the future
Tim Lezard reports from unionlearn’s South West annual conference on how equalities should be at the heart of encouraging trade unionists to return to education More than 60 people attended the South West unionlearn conference, entitled Lessons for the Future, in Bridgwater where they were told union learning reps (ULRs) were more likely to be women or people from black and minority ethnic backgrounds. This was a cause for celebration, according to Equality South West Chief Executive Katie Pratt. “Trade unions do a lot of terrific equality work and it’s heartening to know ULRs are continuing that work,” she said. “ULRs could ask themselves if they have reached everybody they could at work, or are there barriers already in place before courses begin? “It’s worth remembering that when people are thinking
about whether or not to go on a course, many of them will have negative memories from their childhood, memories of sitting in the classroom and being told what to do. “There are things ULRs could do to ensure they have reached everybody. For example, they could create a safe and nourishing environment. Even putting up posters saying ‘We’re all different, we all have different needs, but we’re all welcome’ can make a difference to someone who might be undecided about whether or not to come.” She proposed ULRs monitored who was registering for courses and seeing if there was any group of people who missed out. She also suggested ULRs looked at the tutors who were delivering the course. “Is there a good range of men, women, black people, teachers who are gay?” she asked. “It shouldn’t be the main point but having a diverse group of tutors might help encourage more people to become learners.” Earlier, Helen Cole, regional manager for South West unionlearn, thanked all ULRs and trade union officials in the region for working so hard and making the year a successful one.
Left: Katie Pratt, Equality South West Chief Executive Above: Delegates at the conference Images: Clint Randall www.pixelphotography.co.uk
Helen Cole, Regional Manager for South West unionlearn
She said: “Given the extreme difficulties we’re facing economically and industrially, it’s a real testament to everyone here that our work with unions and learning and skills is still going on, and that we’re still bringing people into learning, still managing to network and still managing to organise trade unions generally. “What we’re doing is, I think, a real help to working people and to people who want to be working, and we need to keep on representing people and supporting them in the way we do – and in the way that only we can.”
Learning Works Spring 2012
Green skills for a green economy Tim Lezard hears how trade unions are key to delivering the skills required for jobs in renewable energy, conservation and environmental protection Trade unionists in the South West are poised to win jobs in the green economy. “There is a huge potential for renewables here in the South West,” said Nigel Costley, Regional Secretary of the South West TUC. “We have a head-start because our natural resources – wind, waves and tides – give us the opportunity to take a leading role in the global sustainable energy market. “We need to ensure the investment gets flowing and we develop the skills to meet the green challenge because climate change isn’t going away, whatever the economy is doing.” TUC policy officer Richard Blakeley told the conference the global green economy was worth a massive £3.2 trillion and was on target to employ 910,000 people in the UK by 2015. “We’re busy pressing the case for investment in green skills within government, in localities, in the workplace and forming innovative new partnerships to deliver green skills and jobs,” he said. “Making the links between the activity of central and local government, trade unions, colleges, employers and community organisations is crucial to preparing workers and citizens for climate change and the challenges of a low-carbon economy.” He said it was projected that by 2020 there would be 70,000 new offshore wind jobs, 65,000 jobs in domestic retrofit installations and advice, 70,000 – 100,000 jobs in carbon capture and storage, and 28,000 replacement employees needed in the power industries. It was these jobs, he said, that trade unionists would be looking to fill, thanks to unionlearn filling the skills gaps. Nigel Costley said: “It’s a core issue for us because of the skills involved. As unions we have to address our responsibilities and join with environmentalists to ensure a fair and just transition to the green
Above: unionlearn Policy Officer Richard Blakeley Right: South West TUC Regional Secretary Nigel Costley
“We need to ensure the investment gets flowing and we develop the skills to meet the green challenge because climate change isn’t going away, whatever the economy is doing” economy. We have mortgaged the planet to the hilt and now it’s payback time.” The conference was used as the platform to launch the Green Skills Manifesto, published by the Greener Jobs Alliance, of which the TUC is a member. Key points in the manifesto are training the workforce, funding 1,000 apprenticeships, employers conducting sustainability skills audits and changing the school, further and higher education curriculums to reflect sustainability issues. The manifesto can be downloaded at: www.unionlearn.org.uk/initiatives/ learn-4456-f0.cfm Images: Clint Randall www.pixelphotography.co.uk
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“The way to change things at work is to have a passion and not be afraid to ask”
» Paul Bishop
(PCS) Land Registry, Plymouth
“Our office is fairly new so there wasn’t a huge amount that needed doing to make it environmentally friendly, but I helped with developing environmentally-friendly grounds in terms of wildlife, which made it attractive too. I found that the main thing is to educate people because although a lot of people have perceptions about green issues, they need to be updated. For example, one person I work with thought keeping the computer monitors on was a massive cost to the department. He hadn’t realised that part of the contract when we replaced all our hardware was that it specified low-energy consumption, so it was actually more cost-effective to leave the monitor on than it was to leave a post-it note there saying you need to turn it off!”
» Spencer Hodgetts
(Unite) Ceva Logistics, Exeter
“I encouraged our local management to take up recycling and, as a result, we had a 60% drop in waste in five years. The way to change things at work is to have a passion and not be afraid to ask. It might take a while – don’t expect to go in and get it from day one. Try and look at things from the employer’s point of view. Don’t go in as a “green heavy”, go in as the guy that can understand their business. The trick is sell it to them, like what the customer wants, only the customer is your boss.”
» Ian Forster
(UNISON) Weston General Hospital, Plymouth
» Sandy Best
(CWU) Royal Mail, Swindon
“The council agreed to extend an existing cycle track to our new workplace, but I looked at the plans and, as a cyclist, saw they made the route as quickly as they could and it wasn’t actually safe. A lady came out and we changed the route to make it safer. It took two years, though. I’m also speaking to the bus companies in Swindon because we need more buses to come to our workplace to coincide with people finishing their shifts. My tip would be just see what people are interested in doing and tap into that.”
» Sally Childs
(UNISON) NHS Dorset, Dorchester
“There is a huge potential for renewables here in the South West, we have a head-start because our natural resources – wind, waves and tides – give us the opportunity to take a leading role in the global sustainable energy market” “We started off recycling tins and plastic bottles, and moved on to getting pool cars to reduce our carbon footprint, but my best tip would be to get people to print doublesided. It’s only a small change but it makes a big difference.”
“I’ve looked at greening the office, recycling, reducing waste, looking at energy-saving devices but also travel. I set up a car-share scheme, sorting out a database for staff to put their names forward to save driving to work every day unnecessarily. We also had a scheme to buy bikes from your salary and encouraged people to walk to work. We moved to new premises recently, so I think my employers were grateful for the help because we lost a lot of car parking spaces. Even now, with dedicated carshare spaces, we’re still full. My tip would be to talk to your employer, get them involved so you can work together to find solutions.” 3
Learning Works Spring 2012
Unite strikes the right tune for Orchestra workers
It was obvious the business was struggling, but it was still a bolt out of the blue when 70 printers found themselves locked out of their workplace. By Tim Lezard Staff at Orchestra turned up for work as normal in the Gloucestershire village of Kingswood one morning last June, only to be called into a meeting and told they were being made redundant. “We knew something was happening with the business because work was going quiet, certain projects were cancelled, a salesman went missing... but we hadn’t realised it was as serious as this,” recalls Unite rep Rod Mans.
Below: Simon Arnold (left), MD of N-Gaged Training, Rod Mans and Andy Hewlett from Unite who helped members find work after they were all made redundant from Orchestra
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“They were completely out on their ear, some of them were in their forties or fifties, had never worked anywhere else and had no idea what they were going to do” “It was a real shock to us all because lots of people had worked here for years and years and all of a sudden nobody knew what was going to happen next.” Rod was quick to call in his union and the following day a meeting was called in the nearby town of Wotton-under-Edge.
“With redundancy support, you tend to drop everything and go in straight away because it’s something you’ve got to crack on with as soon as possible,” explains Unite Regional Learning Organiser Andy Hewlett. “I took Rod’s call and thought I’d be meeting him and a couple of stewards but when I arrived there were 30-odd people there, all in a state of shock because their whole world had suddenly come to a bit of an end. “They were completely out on their ear, some of them were in their forties or fifties, had never worked anywhere else and had no idea what they were going to do.”
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“We were planning to do more training courses, but we were the victims of our own success because all these people were going off to get jobs”
Above left: The now redundant Orchestra road sign Above right: Rod Mans Images: Clint Randall www.pixelphotography.co.uk
As good as his word, Andy dropped everything and swung into action, securing the help of Bristol-based training provider N-Gaged to run employability courses to help workers with basic interview skills and updating their CVs. “The courses were run over five days in this very room,” says Andy, sitting in the back room of The Star Inn in Wotton. “We also helped those who had basic literacy or numeracy problems and found out whether they were looking at staying in printing, moving into another area of work or looking to set up their own business.” Further courses on HGV training and forklift truck training were arranged in Bristol, all with the help of N-Gaged and unionlearn’s Skills for the Future Fund, which put some money towards the cost of the training. As time went on, the weekly meetings in The Star were attended by fewer and fewer people, as the former printers found work. “We were planning to do more training courses, but we were the victims of our own success,” smiles Andy. “By November
“Andy was very good and helped a lot of people who were worried. He was always on the end of the phone, which was very reassuring for us because a lot of us had only had one job in our lives – there were people there who came from school and stayed there.”
were worried. He was always on the end of the phone, which was very reassuring for us because a lot of us had only had one job in our lives – there were people there who came from school and stayed there. If you had a job at Orchestra, you had a job for life... or so you thought.”
we’d knocked it on the head because all these people were going off to get jobs, I’m very glad to say.” Rod, who decided to take early retirement rather than seek a new job, has nothing but praise for the way his union – and Andy – dealt with the situation. “I knew Unite wouldn’t let us down and they didn’t,” he says. “Andy was very good and helped a lot of people who
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Learning Works Spring 2012
Talk to your colleagues – don’t email them
Trade unions have a big role to play in improving health and well-being at work largely because they have the ear of the employer and the employees, says Jane Abraham Unions are in the unique position of being able to use their links with senior management to propose the business case for health and well-being, explaining the return on investment in staff, at the same time as being able to support individuals who have problems. There is a big opportunity for them to be advocates for this issue and to work in partnership both with management and workers to broker new initiatives in the workplace. How can they do it? Well, for example, refuse collectors could be given information about how to protect against musculoskeletal problems and about working in the sun, while office-based workers could be given advice about getting away from their desks more often and being more active.
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Both sets of workers could think about how they travel to work. Rather than always using the car, they could walk or cycle. And office-
“Office-based workers could climb the stairs rather than use lifts, eat more healthily at work by not indulging in high-fat, high-sugar snacks during the day, drink plenty of water, and talk to people rather than email them” based workers could climb the stairs rather than use lifts, eat more healthily at work by not indulging in high-fat, high-sugar snacks during the day, drink plenty of water, and talk to people rather than email them – every interaction helps your well-being. For while trade unions have always been very strong on health and safety at work, they have sometimes overlooked health and well-being. This is an issue which is more important now than ever before because
Regional Coordinator for Health and Well-Being Jane Abraham
we’re going to be working for longer as the default retirement age has gone up and we’re likely be managing poorer health earlier due to lifestyle choices.
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“We need to go into work feeling we will be listened to and that we have some autonomy and control, that we have a voice and we’re valued”
We need to feel that we are valued and listened to at work and that we have some autonomy and control. We need to be able to discuss any problems with people we feel are receptive and supportive in an environment that empowers you to be able to talk about issues, particularly mental health issues. In this economic climate it is particularly important because we want to be able to remain in the job we’re doing and not be at risk of losing it due to long-term ill-health. So, if you’re feeling under pressure, you need to be able to share with people rather than trying to cope by yourself. It’s not just work problems, of course, but personal problems too, such as the caring responsibilities of loved ones at home. Line managers have a key role to play because evidence shows the biggest reason for people being on long-term sickness is their relationship with their line manager. Employers can help by ensuring their line managers are trained and have the resources to deal with some of the softer skills. Often they are recruited because of their practical ability to do the job, but they need to have other skills too, such as emotional intelligence, empathy, listening skills – the ability to be able to have difficult conversations with staff members, because sometimes they shy away from topics that need to be aired.
“Poor health and wellbeing at work is a huge expense for employers, so if they can work closely with trade unions to encourage healthier workplaces, they can reduce their costs as well as making for a healthier, more productive workforce” They also need to be trained to recognise the signs and symptoms of ill health and work-related stress. Communication is key. There is a strong case for the return on investment that employers can make in their staff’s health and well-being. This doesn’t always have to mean capital costs but could be implemented using staff time and local free resources. There is strong evidence that happy, healthy workers are more productive, perform better and are more resilient. This investment can reduce the cost of sickness absence and even prevent it in the first place. Poor health and well-being at work is a huge expense for employers so, if they can work closely with trade unions to encourage healthier workplaces, they can reduce their costs as well as making for a healthier, more productive workforce. What more do they need to know?
The business case for well-being ■■ ill health among the UK’s
working-age population costs the economy £100bn each year – equivalent to the annual cost of running the NHS and the GDP of Portugal
■■ Ford Plant saw a 33%
increase in production volume following the implementation of its skills for life strategy
■■ lost output to mental ill
health is £26bn per year
■■ after introducing a
programme to improve staff health, a manufacturing firm’s employee absence fell, saving them £20,000
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Learning Works Spring 2012
Looking back on the Future success The innovative ‘Skills for the Future’ project has now successfully completed its work, representing an important milestone for unionlearn, writes Maggie Fellows. By bringing together distinct sources of funding to meet complementary aims, the project was able to support a broader range of activity than would have been possible using each fund individually. Skills for the Future supported 2,200 people, 1,000 of whom were at risk of redundancy or of being excluded from learning when they sought support. Through the efforts of the 21 unions involved, these South West workers gained access to redundancy support and to generic and vocational skills training from Level 1 to 5, while 285 union reps and officers were
trained in different aspects of learning and redundancy support contributing significantly to the project’s impact. The project delivered across a very wide range of employment sectors and in all the region’s counties. Fifty private sector employers were involved and 27 from the public and ‘not for profit’ sectors, with 6% of project beneficiaries being self-employed people needing support. In delivering services to individuals, unions worked with many partner organisations; employers, learning providers, sector skills councils, business support agencies, information, advice and support organisations and government agencies. Partnership protocols have been signed; learning providers have gained the coveted unionlearn Quality Award and impressive learning centre partnerships have been established, with ‘learning committees’ of union, employer and partner organisations.
Armchair union learning reps course Trade unionists in the South West are being offered the chance to complete a stage one union learning reps course from the comfort of their own home. For the first time, TUC Education in the South West is offering a ‘blended’ course, combining classroom attendance and distance learning. With three days of the course being classroom-based and the rest being online tutor-supported and workplace activities, the course combines a flexible approach with the best of both classroom and online delivery. ULRs who apply for the course will need to negotiate time off with pay from their employers and be competent computer users to take full advantage of the course.
Unionlearn’s Alan Shearn said: “Interest in this course came from the unions themselves and I am confident that this approach will be a welcome addition to the current classroom only or online only delivery we currently offer in the region’. The course will take place on five consecutive Fridays from 1st June In Swindon, Gloucester or Cheltenham depending on demand. For more information or an application form, please contact Mary Scott: 01793 732 848 ex 5801 mary.scott@newcollege.ac.uk or Alan Shearn: 07899 966 384 ashearn@tuc.org.uk or apply online at: http://bit.ly/swulrstage1
Several of these groups have signed new or upgraded Learning Agreements and six new partnership learning centres have been established in the region. The wide range of partners engaged was reflected in the project’s steering group and in the delivery of project training and this assisted unions to provide up to date and comprehensive information, support and opportunity to SW workers and their employers. For further information about the work of the Skills for the Future Project: www.unionlearn.org.uk/southwest Unionlearn acknowledges support from the SW Regional Development Agency, the European Social Fund and the DBIS ‘Union Learning Fund’ including the ‘Skills, Recession and Recovery Project’. Unionlearn is also very grateful for the additional support provided by Jobcentre Plus. Left: SftF Project Manager Maggie Fellows
Diary dates ■■
Tuesday 1st May
Re-launch of Trade Union Studies City of Bristol College ■■
Throughout 2012
Course dates are always available at: bit.ly/SWTUEd
Contact unionlearn unionlearn South West Church House, Church Road, Filton Bristol BS34 7BD t: 0117 947 0521 f: 0117 947 0523 e: unionlearnsouthwest@tuc.org.uk twitter: @swtuc @tucedsw
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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