Midlands update magazine - Issue 11

unionlearn Midlands Region

ISSUE 11 AUTUMN 2010

update www.unionlearn.org.uk

The stars who are ULRs

Welcome to update!

Welcome to our latest edition which celebrates the achievements of Midlands Union Learning Reps by featuring just a few amongst the many who are out there making a real difference in their workplaces (see pages 4 and 5).

As we look to the future and sustainability of union learning, we need to be considering a variety of approaches. This was the theme of our recent event in Nottingham, which you can read about opposite, where reps and project workers discussed co-investment and bargaining for skills. You can also read more about Collective Learning Funds or Co-investment, where contributions from the employer, the union, the individual and the state, make learning possible.

New learning initiatives are continuously developing in the region and we have featured some of these on pages 6 and 7 including the Unite office in Derby and through PCS at the Land Registry in Coventry.

Our training for all those workplace reps that are making their mark around the region is delivered through colleges and the WEA. You can read about the range of provision available at our TU Education centres, as well as hear from one of our tutors on page 7.

Opportunities on offer included maths and Online basics. Details of both campaigns are on the back page and I do hope many of you will champion them in your workplace.

Mary Alys Regional Manager

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Decade of success Union learning in the Midlands has come a long way in the last decade and a conference in Nottingham, pictured above and below, celebrated the success and looked forward to offering more through strong partnerships.

Just a handful of recent achievements include 80 learners gaining level 2 & 3 NVQs at CWU Northampton; 4,000 employees of Notts County Council receiving training after a skills survey; 100 people at a logistics company in Leicester gaining CPC qualifications with a link to SfL and NVQs. All this has been in addition to establishing learning centres and signing learning agreements as well as matching time for learning for SfL, setting up steering groups and much more, says unionlearn Regional Manager Mary Alys.

The conference also highlighted the personal progression of ULRs not only in their own workplace but in securing jobs with their own unions. Regional Education Officer Pete Try talked about the importance of trade union education centres and the role they play in supporting workplace learning and the development of ULRs. April Hayhurst from Derby Corporate College spoke about the work that they have carried out at JCB and how ULRs played a part in encouraging participation from the workforce and Helen Stevenson from Derby College spoke about the money available for redundancy support.

Kevin Brinklow, GMB ULR at Nottingham City Homes, gave a history of the work completed at the company and the achievements they’ve made through the support of all the unions on site – Unite, UCATT, GMB and Unison. He talked about his journey over the past eight years and his own development plus the support he’d received from unionlearn for events such as Learning at Work Day and the Celebration of Learning. Kevin said hundreds of people onsite have now developed and strengthened their own skills set.

The conference also included workshops on Bargaining for Skills and Co-investment, which talked about continuing to establish learning partnerships between employers, unions and providers.

Building for the future Prefab maker Caledonian Building Systems at Carlton-on-Trent is building a strong learning culture – thanks to collective work between union and employer.

The company builds mostly large public sector structures like schools and hospitals and employs about 250 staff in a range of construction and manufacturing jobs. About 90 per cent of the shop floor staff are members of Unite the union.

Management representatives recognised that there were skills needs which didn’t affect the actual work process but caused problems in other areas, such as filling in time sheets.

The shop steward trained as a union learning rep (ULR) and, together with the Unite learning organiser, persuaded the company to agree to apply for funding for a Collective Learning Fund (CLF).

As part of the application, it was agreed to set up a learning committee to manage the initiative, establish a learning centre and sign a learning agreement. The learning agreement included some paid time off for employees on Skills for Life and English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL) courses, with matched time off for ICT learning.

The fund is managed by a small learning committee and has been used to buy hardware, booklets and pay for publicity material, paper resources etc. In the future, the learning committee may consider some part loans/part grants to help make learning affordable.

At this stage, all other contributions have been ‘in kind’ from either the employer (the learning centre, broadband and matched time for Skills for Life and resources, the union (project support), the provider (laptops) or the individual learner (time). The ICT provider also agreed to fund some Construction Skills Certificate Scheme (CSCS) courses. Skills for Life provision was provided through Train to Gain.

31 employees have attended Skills for Life courses, working at either Level 1 or Level 2, involving both shop floor and office staff at all grades. Five employees attended introduction to ICT training, 59 employees attended other courses, including those obtaining the CSCS card.

Collective Learning Funds Collective Learning Funds (CLFs) are union-led initiatives to stimulate coinvestment in workplace training and personal development. They pool contributions from employers, employees, providers and unions.

CLFs have been piloted by unionlearn in 23 sites across North West England and the East Midlands with support from the last government (DIUS then BIS). The CLFs were tried out in different situations to see what works best.

A new resource is now available on CLF. Called Making Learning Affordable – Setting up Collective Learning Funds, a toolkit for trade unions, it includes cases studies and examples of best practice. It is available at: www.unionlearn.org.uk/initiatives/learn-3653-f0.cfm

Initially there was some scepticism about the initiative from management and the shop floor. Some managers were not sure that the staff would want to engage in learning. Some on the shop floor saw the initiative as a prelude to redundancy. These doubts were soon set aside and there is now joint working with new skills and ways of discussing issues. Already participants talk about the benefits of the grant and the CLF. There is little doubt that co-funders would not have been drawn together without the CLF project as a catalyst. The small grant has been multiplied several fold by the contributions it has stimulated.

There are signs that, at a difficult economic time of reduced orders and the subsequent introduction of short time working, this initiative has helped morale and raised the union’s profile on site.

It has also been recognised as ‘the company doing something for the staff’. There is an expectation that the learning will lead to fewer paperwork errors, as well as helping staff get promoted to jobs which require more skills and are better rewarded.

“The CLF project has enabled a positive way to work alongside the union instead of being on opposing sides.

For once we are working together on the same agenda, ” says Sue Randall, HR Manager.

Co investment in learning Co investment in learning has proved successful at Courtaulds UK, where management and the Community union have joined forces to provide a range of learning opportunities.

The textiles producer has established a learning centre and learning agreement after the partnership was established in 2006. Both sides have invested in the centre.

With the backing of support from their branch ULRs Shirley Vernon and Lorraine Scattergood work closely with HR manager Mel Freeman, introducing NVQs, Skills for Life, ESOL, ILM Leadership and Management with plans for further NVQs, Skills for Life, apprenticeships and HE (degree).

As well as investing resources the company has agreed reasonable time off for Skills for Life, access to IAG, facility time for ULRs and time off for ULRs to support learners. Lorraine said: “Management has always been very good and backed us up, being positive and supporting. If not for them the learning centre would not have happened. We work together to sort things out rather than work against each other. You have to blend together and do things in a different way.”

Celebrating Shirley and Lorraine, see pages 4 and 5.

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© Roy Peters

Something to celebrate The Midlands ULRs celebrated below are among a vast and growing army across the country helping support and encourage colleagues to reach their potential for lifelong learning.

Kev builds a brighter future Ucatt ULR at Lincoln City Council Kev Clarke was an early convert to helping colleagues find better opportunities through learning.

He was the first Ucatt ULR at the council some 11 years ago.

Tommy sets a brave example ULR Tommy Dawkins took the brave decision to admit his own problems with reading and writing to encourage his colleagues to take the leap into learning.

Tommy, a rep for the CATU (now Unity) union was invited to become a ULR when the scheme was introduced over a decade ago. “I was asked if I wanted to become a learning rep and said ‘What’s that? I didn’t have a clue!” he says.

Tommy was one of 19 ULRs charged with helping seek out colleagues in the pottery business with life skills.

But his decision to talk about his own problems with reading and writing soon found him talking to groups all over the country and encouraging hundreds of others to tackle their literacy issues.

“It went down well with me explaining my story and saying to people that there were lots of people like us out there and probably people worked with someone like me.”

With the help of courses at Stoke on Trent College Tommy, who now works in security at Steelite International at Stoke on Trent, also got support for his own literacy needs and can now read and write well.

“The fact that I had the confidence to talk about it altered my life,” he said. “Until then I’d always had to bluff my way through. I’d always been embarrassed at not being able to read and write.”

Tommy was awarded the MBE for his services to lifelong learning in 2002 and now works tirelessly to continue to get the ULR message across to his colleagues and friends.

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“It was the same old story of seeing that certain sections were getting all the learning and training and other sections weren’t getting any. I realised you had to be part of it to do something.”

One of Kev’s first challenges was to “I’m really press for training for construction staff proud of being on Construction Skills Certification a ULR and Scheme, CSCS cards, which are look forward increasingly demanded as proof of to celebrating occupational competence by another contractors, public and private clients ten years.” and others.

“The authority took it on board and now 96 per cent have the card,” says a proud Kev. He is also rightly proud of his achievements in supporting mostly women night cleaners, many of who have gained NVQ Level 1, gone on to Level 2 with some going on to further learning. “It’s so good to hear people are carrying on their learning. They have been given inspiration.”

Kev’s efforts have helped introduce apprentices at the council and he has persuaded the council to sign the Skills Pledge. Despite all he has helped introduce Kev sees a future with plenty of fresh challenges. He now wants to introduce NVQs for mobile caretakers. “I’m really proud of being a ULR and look forward to celebrating another ten years.”

Did you know…

Union involvement in workplace learning can increase the amount of training an employee receives?

Where there is a ULR, 46.5 per cent of employees received five or more training days in the last 12 months compared to 29 per cent in workplaces where there is no ULR? ULRs have the confidence of union members, the recognition of employers and the support of unions.

Since 1999 over 25,000 ULRs have been trained to carry out their many functions. In union recognised workplaces ULRs, like union representatives as a whole, have the right to paid time off to train and to carry out their role.

Dream team Meet Courtaulds ULRs Shirley Vernon and Lorraine Scattergood Courtaulds ULR Shirley Vernon (above left) has been a ULR for the Community union for a number of years after getting involved partly to improve her own learning and skills set.

“I’ve always been interested in learning and encouraging other people and letting them have the opportunity to improve their skills,” says Shirley.

She was drawn to the idea of learning because she wanted to improve her own skills, both brushing up on English and Maths and gaining a formal qualification (NVQ) for her recognised skills as an administrator.

As well as her NVQ in business administration and English Levels 1

and 2 she is working on her maths.

Shirley, a receptionist at Courtaulds, and fellow ULR Lorraine Scattergood were also part of the Community team working closely with management to set up a learning centre and draw up a learning agreement at the firm.

She’s now dedicated to continue spreading the learning message to her colleagues. “It can be frustrating to get the message across because unless they are at risk of losing their jobs people do not realise the importance of keeping their skills up to date.”

Lorraine was invited to be a ULR because she has experience as a former tutor in IT for adult education.

She works on the shop floor, recruiting

staff into the learning centre. “We work well together,” she says.

Lorraine, who has achieved her Level 3 ILM and NVQ as well as English learning, says she enjoys the challenges of meeting and supporting people.

“I enjoy the fact that people get a buzz out of learning and get the credit for the hard work they have done. It makes you feel part of something and it’s nice to bring into a factory. People think a factory is dead end but it’s not and you need a lot of qualities such as social skills which are just as important as academic skills as well as skills like English and Maths to get by and help people communicate.”

Sonila leads the way ULRs give employees someone who: ❚ they know and who may have helped ❚ ❚ ❚ ❚

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them in the past is completely independent, whose advice they can trust they know will treat everything they say in confidence if necessary can give advice in the familiar surroundings of the workplace can provide information about learning opportunities, available both inside and outside the workplace is properly trained and informed, capable of representing their learning needs and interests with their employer is trained to work with providers of learning to shape the opportunities to meet the needs of workplace learners provides up-to-date information about learning and skills initiatives from Skills for Life to higher education.

A passion for learning and development and helping others has seen Unite Lead ULR Sonila Ellahi introduce a host of exciting learning schemes at RBS in Birmingham.

Sonila, a mortgage consultant, has been a ULR for three years. In this time she has introduced a learning project at the bank’s Brindley Place, which includes a range of services for staff – Learning at Work days, World Book Day events, information, advice and guidance drop ins, a learning needs analysis and dyslexia screening to support members with learning difficulties build their confidence and self esteem.

She has also helped to introduce languages for staff, which include Spanish, Arabic and sign language as

well as an accredited learning project for the bank’s collections areas.

Together with a team of two other ULRs she is also able to offer sign posting to help staff with for example financial opportunities to further their careers.

She ensures she is involved in learning herself too, completing her certificate in training practice and joining colleagues on the Arabic course. “You need to be seen to do the same thing and act as a model,” says Sonila, who has overcome her own dyslexia to lead by example.

Sonila is now also a member of her union’s national industrial financial sector and has spoken about union learning at the House of Commons and was recently invited to attend the European Social Fund in Brussels where she had the chance to discuss how different unions operate on an international level.

“It’s a fantastic experience which would not have been available to me if I had not been a ULR. “It’s really rewarding. ULRs make learning accessible,” she says.

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Skills for recovery

The skills to recover Unionlearn’s Skills, Recession and Recovery Project (SRR) is helping workers across the Midlands region with a range of measures to support them into new work opportunities.

The project was established by unionlearn earlier this year in response to the economic downturn to ensure that unions have help in supporting their members through recession and redundancy and on the way to recovery.

The project is funded by the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) through the Union Learning Fund (ULF).

At Celanese, Spondon, pictured above, the union Unite, SRR and Unet (unionlearn learning centre network) are supporting the workforce through redundancy via laptops and the company learning centre.

And when Derby print company BemroseBooth went into receivership Unite the union was quick off the mark to offer support for those affected, setting up open days for members with partner organisations offering advice.

With the support of SRR and Unet Unite set up an emergency learning centre at its Derby office with laptops supplied by unionlearn. As a result the union can now offer rapid response to members in the East Midlands.

More than 40 members have received advice on benefits, pensions and courses on offer and literacy and numeracy courses were completed with all learners getting a qualification. There was also an ICT course to help members brush up and learn IT skills for use in CV writing and job applications.

The confidence of learning Trade union education tutor Emma Beck has come a long way from the days when she was bullied in her part time job working in a supermarket.

“I had a horrible bullying manager but didn’t have the confidence to say anything,” says Emma. Now she is helping others gain the confidence she lacked so that they can avoid the situation she found herself in.

A rep for the PCS union, Emma worked for the Benefits Agency and Tax Office in Leicester but found herself wanting to change career.

A chat with her TU Ed tutor persuaded her to give teaching a go

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and she found she loved it. She secured a job at Derby College last year where she now helps delivers the full range of trade union education courses as well as short courses and programmes for affiliate unions.

“I never thought I’d say it but I love my job. I get to meet reps every day and they are decent people who care about other people,” she says.

“I like to see the change in reps who start out lacking confidence.

When they come back and tell us what they have been doing, we know we have helped build their confidence.”

Lakhy Mahal: Unite Learning Organiser, pictured right, said: “This is part and parcel of what the union is all about, offering support to all and especially to those who need it the most, in this case members who lost their jobs abruptly.

“Only unions can give this personalised support because they know the members and understand what they are going through because in many cases we have been there ourselves.”

Learners commented: “The support from the union has been brilliant setting up these courses and any help is appreciated in this climate” “Good to see the courses set up and now with the new laptops the union can be put use immediately” “This is a great way to brush up on your IT, Maths and English whilst keeping in touch with your mates, meeting up before the course starts, catching up and sharing information about jobs!

“Anything that will help you get a job has got to be a bonus” “With me not being up on computers this course will come in very handy” “I am on this IT course and have also signed up for a local numeracy course at Level 2, after getting my level 1 with the union.”

The excellent work and service offered by the union shows union-learning at it most powerful and effective, offering not only qualifications to members but the social aspects and invaluable union support that membership offers throughout a person’s life.

Diversity in TUC Education

by Pete Try, REO ”One of the great things about the TUC Education programme is its accessibility.

There is a range of readily available education opportunities for union reps that cover almost every relevant topic.

Why is that necessary? The answer is because union reps are just about as diverse a group of people as you could wish to find. In the Midlands there are men and women from bakeries in Nottinghamshire and supermarkets in Leicester; they come from among textile workers in Derbyshire and civil servants in Shropshire; pottery craftspeople in Stoke on Trent and confectionary workers in Birmingham.

There is such a wide range of cultural and educational backgrounds, workplace demands and problems to face up to that it would be impossible

for our education programme to be anything other than diverse if it is to help these union reps with their invaluable work.

The TUC programme is open access, no formal qualifications are required.

Union reps can start with a Stage 1 course and end up making the step to a university degree. In this way both the concept of worker representation is strengthened and individuals can take responsibility for their own personal development. Courses are offered through partner colleges and the WEA in a range of venues across the Midlands, so hopefully there is one near you. If there isn’t then the programme is also available on-line.

The trade union values of justice and fairness, equality and equity are stitched into the fabric of our courses.

The idea of union reps working together to help the most vulnerable in British

workplaces is welded into the framework of course organisation. In this way we make our contribution to the development of modern democracy.

Recently unionlearn published the TUC Education workbook Out at Work.

We also have the Working Women handbook and Tackling Racism in the Workplace. A Diploma in Equality is in development and will be available in 2011. There are courses for union reps to help them represent members who may have mental health problems.

Most recently a joint project with Macmillan has resulted in the publication of Cancer in the Workplace – a new set of training materials for union reps.

There are still long-standing barriers to improved diversity in education.

Time off from work is one; the way education funding is channelled is another. Colleges need minimum numbers to be able to run courses and nowadays they have to lead to qualifications. TUC Education can only work with union reps and, in that sense, is reflective of trade union membership itself.

Even so, it would be very hard indeed to find another training organisation with such a wide-ranging programme. This is a call to all union reps. You could be dealing with disciplinaries, chasing up the causes of a workplace accident or trying to get your employer to invest in some workforce development. The TUC Education programme is there to help you. We don’t want to lose it – so please use it.”

Registering for learning Two PCS union learning reps (ULRs) at the Land Registry in Coventry organised a Learning and Information Day at their workplace attracting over 100 members.

Organisations and providers who attended were as wide-ranging as Warwickshire College and the St John Ambulance.

ULRs Vikki Wooding and Michelle Phelps organised the day because they wanted to help members make informed choices about their personal and professional development.

Vicki said:“We have nearly 300 staff working on site and we are aware that many are trying to better themselves, especially given the current job climate. We are really pleased with the response from the providers and so much positive feedback from our staff.”

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Contacts unionlearn Midlands Region 24 Livery Street Birmingham B3 2PA 0121 236 4454 Regional manager Mary Alys

malys@tuc.org.uk

Regional Education Officer Pete Try

ptry@tuc.org.uk

Regional union development coordinator Gary O’Donnell

godonnell@tuc.org.uk

Development Worker for West Midlands Paul Humphreys phumphreys@tuc.org.uk Development Workers for East Midlands Mick Brightman mbrightman@tuc.org.uk Lisa Stones lstones@tuc.org.uk Project Worker for East Midlands Jurgita Pranculyte jpranculyte@tuc.org.uk Regional Learning Centre Support Officer Alan Cook acook@tuc.org.uk Skills, Recession and Recovery Development Workers Irene Murray irene.murray@tuc.org.uk Anne-Marie Hanna ahanna@tuc.org.uk Administrative Assistants Michelle Kesterton mkesterton@tuc.org.uk Louise Power lpower@tuc.org.uk Surjit Kaur Chohan schohan@tuc.org.uk

Introducing Online basics Online basics is a free, easy to use course that will help you help colleagues to start using computers and the internet.

It includes five short modules that show how to use a mouse and keyboard, how to email, and how to search for information and stay safe online. Online basics helps people learn and practise new skills and start enjoying all the fantastic things the internet has to offer. For more details of how you can get involved log onto www.onlinebasics.co.uk/

Make maths matter Maths4Us at maths4us.org is a joint initiative between unionlearn, NIACE and National Centre for Excellence in the Teaching of Mathematics (NCETM) to encourage people to tackle numeracy, take-up numeracy learning and have fun with maths.

If your job means that you can help to encourage others to get them thinking about numeracy and numeracy learning, you can use this website to help you get started.

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If you are an intermediary, you may have identified several people who are keen to improve their numeracy skills. Why not get your ULR involved to negotiate time to train or starting up a learning centre?

Or you can think about how you can: ❚ identify barriers to numeracy ❚ offer support for numeracy ❚ be positive about numeracy ❚ show the relevance of numeracy.

Writer: Astrid Stubbs | Design: wave.coop | Printers: ZetaColour | Cover pic: Tommy Dawkins, ULR, by Roy Peters