Update - Southern and Eastern Region magazine (Spring 2011)

Southern and Eastern Region

SUMMER 2011

update

That’s ASDA

learning!

Kent distribution centre signs breakthrough agreement

Promoting well-being all year round Union learning projects throughout the southern and eastern region used the opportunity of Adult Learners’ Week (ALW) and Learning At Work Day (LAWD) in May to promote health and well-being in the workplace as they often have over the years. ULRs and project workers ran sessions on everything from helping smokers quit the habit to promoting healthy eating and tackling work-related stress.

As unionlearn Director Tom Wilson argued at our health, work and well-being event earlier this year (reported in more detail on the back page of this issue), promoting health and well-being is simply an extension of work that has been central to union concerns about workplace health and safety for decades.

In fact, promoting health and well-being has a lot in common with health and safety, particularly because it pays off for employees and employers alike. The union case for safety-conscious workplaces protects individuals from accidents – and it also saves employers money in lost time and sickness absence.

When unions negotiate to change, say, an unfair performance management system that creates unnecessary stress, they’re helping not only to protect their members from mental health problems but also to prevent the wider negative impacts of such schemes on the organisation as a whole.

Yet more than two-thirds of employers admit they don’t do anything to help keep staff with health problems in work, and nearly the same number confess to being unaware of Government health and well-being initiatives. This has got to change – which means there’s a real opportunity for union learning reps to promote the health and well-being agenda, working closely with their fellow health and safety reps.

This issue is too important to highlight once a year – we should all be following the example of union learning projects that have run health and well-being events throughout the year to keep these issues in the forefront of everyone’s minds.

Barry Francis, Regional Manager

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Helping more union learners aim higher Unionlearn SERTUC and Linking London, the lifelong learning network for central, east and north London, have signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to further develop their joint work to help ULRs and learners.

Linking London is a network of universities and colleges that aims to provide more opportunities for people wishing to progress onto higher education (HE), whatever their previous level of education.

Unionlearn Regional Manager Barry Francis and Linking London Director Sue Betts signed the MoU in April, and it sets out how the two organisations will work together to help ULRs give accurate information, advice and guidance and open up more HE opportunities for union members.

The discounts for union members offered by two of Linking London’s partners are already proving popular: Birkbeck and The Open University (OU) are both offering a 10 per cent discount to union members studying with their organisations.

Linking London creates and improves opportunities for vocational learners who want to progress into higher education, and is also able to support employees who need advice and guidance in order to make informed choices about gaining higher level skills and qualifications.

Linking London uses its position to build and implement workable solutions to the barriers facing employees wanting to study.

“Over the last five years, Linking London has been working to provide more opportunities for employees to be able to access higher education and acquire the skills and qualifications they need to progress in their careers,” explains Sue Betts.

“This memorandum of understanding marks the continuation of our commitment to work together to improve opportunities for union members at our partner institutions.”

To find out more, visit www.linkinglondon.ac.uk For details of course discounts at Birkbeck and the OU, contact your ULR.

GMB launches ASDA learning scheme

Photos © Rod Leon

GMB Regional Learning Organiser Liliya Brabbs (second left) is promoting learning to everyone working at ASDA’s distribution depot in Erith, Kent

More than 60 full-time colleagues and agency workers at ASDA’s distribution depot in Erith, Kent, have signed up to Skills for Life courses since the general union GMB signed a learning agreement at the depot earlier this year.

While the union has a national recognition agreement with the supermarket giant, this is the first learning agreement it has signed with one of its distribution depots.

“The management and people team at Erith is very happy to encourage colleagues to develop their skills through the union,” says GMB Regional Project Organiser Liliya Brabbs, who has been steering the learning initiative.

“The atmosphere is fantastic – they have welcomed our approach and have let us talk to everyone on the site about learning.”

Negotiating the agreement didn’t take very long – both sides began

discussing the possibilities at the very end of last year, and signed the agreement in April.

The inclusive agreement means agency workers as well as full-time employees are able to take advantage of the new opportunities for learning in the workplace.

“Everyone who passes through ASDA’s doors in Erith as a colleague or an agency worker is welcome to do the courses we have available,” Liliya says.

Since reaching the agreement in April, GMB has trained three union learning reps to spread the word about learning opportunities at the depot, while Liliya has also raised the profile of what’s on offer by running a series of open days.

“We now have a total of 61 learners onboard, with 42 of them taking literacy and numeracy and 19 taking literacy alone,” Liliya explains.

The online courses provided means

learners can study at their own pace, but the company has also agreed that a tutor can come on site to offer individual and group support.

Erith & Thamesmead MP Teresa Pearce visited the distribution centre to see the learning initiative in action in June.

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Adult Learners’ Week 2011 Two union learners celebrated winning prestigious Adult Learners’ Week (ALW) awards while union learning projects throughout the region marked the 20th festival of adult learning with a wide range of different events celebrating personal and professional development in the workplace.

That was the Week that Two London-based migrant learners nurtured by the trade union movement won Adult Learners’ Week individual regional awards this year.

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Nenita Dolar has transformed her life through learning through her union

© Chris Brown/www.chrisphoto.co.uk

Unionlearn Regional Manager Barry Francis presented Unite member Nenita Dolar and RMT member Vitalis Ndeda with their awards at a ceremony in the Museum of London on the Tuesday of Adult Learners’ Week (ALW).

“Nenita and Vitalis are fantastic examples of how union learners can change their own lives through learning and really enthuse others to help them progress,” he said.

When Nenita arrived in the UK from the Philippines six years ago at the age of 50, the long hours she worked in private households to help support her family back home meant she couldn’t access any courses to improve her English or get to grips with computers.

But through Unite’s pioneering migrant workers learning project, Nenita began attending classes in English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL) and ICT alongside other migrant domestic workers, and progressed to Level 2 in both subjects.

Her new-found computer skills meant she could keep in touch with her family in the Philippines using Skype, Facebook and email.

And her learning achievements gave Nenita the confidence and skills to became active in Justice 4 Domestic Workers, the campaigning organisation run by and for migrant domestic workers in the UK. “I have transformed my life completely: after joining ESOL and ICT classes, I became a happy person who can work collectively for her fellow domestic workers in the UK,” Nenita says.

After he arrived in the UK from the former Soviet Union and started working on London Underground, Vitalis Ndeda began his union learning journey by taking a number of health and safety courses at Lewisham College Trade Union Studies Centre (TUSC) through his union, RMT. Later, he undertook both ULR and Discussion Leader training to help him run workplace education sessions and encourage more of his colleagues to develop themselves through union learning.

He’s also continued to develop his health and safety expertise, gaining an NVQ Level 4 in Occupational Safety and Health and completing an A1 Assessor Award, and has now moved on to become a health and safety adviser at construction firm Bryen & Langley.

Vitalis is grateful for the support he’s had from RMT. “It’s done so much for me: I’d never have known such opportunities existed if it hadn’t been for the union – now I want to pass on my knowledge and help other people,” he says.

TUSC Head Rossina Harris, who nominated him for the ALW award, says Vitalis cares passionately about helping other people.

“Other union members are now benefiting from what he has learned and he has introduced training programmes into his workplace and has become a trainer himself,” she says.

© Chris Brown/www.chrisphoto.co.uk

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“It’s done so much for me: I’d never have known such opportunities existed if it hadn’t been for the union – now I want to pass on my knowledge and help other people” Vitalis Ndeda (second right) enjoys his ALW award with (from left) Bryen & Langley’s Alan Barthrope, Lewisham College’s Rossina Harris and Barry Francis

The week in brief With the help of unionlearn SERTUC, Lambeth Walk Group Practice became the first South London GP surgery to hold an event during Adult Learners’ Week this year – and the activities on offer attracted more than 60 local residents to take part.

Activities included a sittercise class, a reading group and a growyour-own-vegetables class (a local charity has started a community garden in the courtyard that is open to residents who can’t grow their own at home).

Lambeth residents explore the growyour-own garden in their local GP practice during Adult Learners’ Week

There was also table-tennis, a collage class on the theme of health and well-being run by local provider Morley College and the launch of a new bookswap scheme.

In addition, Phil Spry from the Community and Trade Union Centre on the Olympic Park brought laptops to the practice to run a computer beginners’ group and help people sign up with the Myguide suite of online services. ❚ Quick Reads author Lucy Cavendish talked about her book Jack and Jill and signed copies of it for learners at the Herts Trade Union Learning Centre during Adult Learners’ Week.

The centre also provided a range of free tasters throughout the day, covering CV writing, internet job-searching, English and maths, as well as using eBay and social networking, plus free Pilates sessions. ❚ The Community and Trade Union Learning Centre (CTU) at Pudding Mill Lane celebrated ALW by launching free weekly language cafés funded by Birkbeck College to enable Olympic Park workers to start or brush up their

Photos © Rod Leon

French and Spanish. ❚ Royal College of Midwives (RCM) members at the Elizabeth Garrett Anderson Maternity Wing of University College Hospital took part in a trolley dash to promote learning in the workplace on Learning At Work Day (LAWD).

RCM midwives took their trolleys around the unit dispensing advice on learning, information about the RCM, freebies and healthy food, and also ran sessions on personal safety.

“We wanted to use the occasion of Adult Learners’ Week to promote learning at work among staff at the maternity wing, and the trolley dash meant we could speak to people and give them advice on continuing professional development within the workplace,” said Irene Gregory of the RCM.

Quick Reads author Lucy Cavendish helped Herts Trade Union Learning Centre mark Adult Learners’ Week

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How Bullingdon unlocks everyone’s potential The POA learning centre at Bullingdon prison is helping staff and local residents develop and move on.

There’s a ‘thank you’ card from a grateful member on display at the Prison Officers’ Association (POA) learning centre at Bullingdon prison, in Oxfordshire, which says: “Teacher – I’m a brainbox, thanks to you!”

It’s not unusual for the centre staff to get positive feedback like that from the staff and local residents who use its facilities – and it makes all the difference, says centre manager David Dillon, who runs the centre alongside regional learner support officer Katrina Alexander.

“Seeing the joy of people who have achieved something in their learning is the best part of the job – we helped one visitor write a CV and he went on to get a job,” David says.

Set up with the blessing of the prison governor two years ago, the centre offers a wide array of learning opportunities to the 500-plus staff, including free Skills for Life sessions, foreign languages courses and vocational qualifications in business administration.

There’s also a wide range of computer courses available, with newbies able to sign up for the free Myguide package, while the more experienced can access the full rage of learndirect courses online.

The prison management, POA and unionlearn between them funded the centre’s 12 desktop computers, three laptops, whiteboard, TV and DVD player, and the sofa was rescued from the staff mess (where it was about to be thrown away) and after a shampoo looks as good as new.

The union has signed a learning agreement with the management, and all new staff are introduced to the centre and what they can get out of it during their induction.

David and Katrina, both qualified to offer Information, Advice and Guidance (IAG) to learners, are always on hand to help people get started and support individuals wherever they are on their own learning journeys.

“For prison staff, we provide a relaxed, friendly atmosphere where they can improve their skills to help them in their career or as part of their personal development,” David says.

Providing somewhere staff can relax, surf the internet, use the book exchange or pick up one of the latest Quick Reads is crucial, agrees Katrina.

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“Our centre recognises that learners need provision for quality learning in a relaxed and friendly environment, at a time and pace that suits them,” Katrina says.

“I tell people to pop in for just half an hour during their lunch breaks and regard it as a de-stressing session,” she explains.

Like many of its counterparts elsewhere in the POA’s network, the centre makes a point of reaching out to the local community to encourage people living nearby to make use of the centre to brush up old skills or develop new ones (the centre is located outside the prison gates next to the staff canteen).

“We’ve advertised the centre through the local Chamber of Commerce and the local media: you need to contact all the local organisations,” David says.

“Seeing the joy of people who have achieved something in their learning is the best part of the job – we helped one visitor write a CV and he went on to get a job” Local resident Joe Kennedy was introduced to the centre by a friend who was already attending to improve his computer skills. He had never used a computer before but by the end of his first visit had learnt how to type his own name and change the font and size onscreen, and now he’s using email, listening to music, watching videos and tracing family history – and catching up with his family in Denmark using a webcam.

The centre has also organised a family festival of learning every year since it was opened in 2009, where the staff organise fun activities as well as taster sessions to encourage people to take up learning – including didgeridoo lessons, manicures, wildlife tours and tag rugby (plus a bouncy castle for the children).

Bullingdon POA Learning Centre provides courses to prison staff and members of the local community such as Joe and Rosie Kennedy

© Jess Hurd/reportdigital.co.uk

“The family festival is advertised throughout the local area, through local schools and other organisations, and we get quite an intake on that: you get people into the centre so they can see what goes on,” David says.

The centre is definitely doing an awful lot right. Last year, David Dillon and ULR Steve Wrighton accepted a unionlearn Quality Award for Bullingdon POA Learning Centre presented by Quick Reads author Lola Jaye at the unionlearn SERTUC annual conference.

“It’s been a tremendous help having a learning centre bang on the site: it means that you can directly signpost members to the centre and let them know what is on offer – and once they are in, they often go on to engage in all sorts of different kinds of learning,” Steve says.

Unionlearn Regional Manager Barry Francis says it’s vital for workers to improve their skills and gain new ones given the current state of the economy and labour market.

“Union-led learning centres play a crucial role and the centre at Bullingdon prison is a beacon of good practice,” he says.

David Dillon receives the unionlearn Quality Award for Bullingdon POA Learning Centre from author Lola Jaye

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Contacts Unionlearn Southern and Eastern Region Congress House Great Russell Street London WC1B 3LS

020 7467 1251

Regional education office

020 7467 1284

Outreach office Community and Trade Union Learning Centre

020 3288 5520

Regional Manager Barry Francis

bfrancis@tuc.org.uk

Regional Coordinator Jon Tennison

jtennison@tuc.org.uk

Community and Trade Union Learning Centre Manager Phil Spry

pspry@tuc.org.uk

Senior Union Support Officers Mick Hadgraft Stuart Barber

mhadgraft@tuc.org.uk sbarber@tuc.org.uk

Union Support Officer Adrian Ryan

aryan@tuc.org.uk

Field Worker Jane Warwick

jwarwick@tuc.org.uk

Regional Education Officers Rob Hancock Theresa Daly

rhancock@tuc.org.uk tdaly@tuc.org.uk

Administration Sonia Dawson Johanna Garcia Jaspal Ghtoray Tanya Nelson Natasha Owusu

sdawson@tuc.org.uk jgarcia@tuc.org.uk jghtoray@tuc.org.uk tnelson@tuc.org.uk nowusu@tuc.org.uk

Learning how to develop healthy workplaces Much more needs to be done to promote health and well-being at the workplace, the National Director for Health and Work Dame Carol Black told a unionlearn SERTUC event in March.

“Too often health and work are not acknowledged as related and inter-dependent: Fairness at work promotes the workplace potential for good mental health, argues prevention and promotion Dame Carol Black goes largely unrecognised,” she argued.

“There is a business case: money spent on improving the work environment will soon be recouped if it prevents sick leave and staff turnover.”

Fair and flexible workplaces can help promote good mental health in their staff.

“A lot of people are feeling under stress at the moment because they fear that their job is at risk: good management practice, for example being open with the staff and offering them support, can make a difference,” she said.

Unionlearn Director Tom Wilson said that it made sense that unions looked at problems such as stress, general health and well-being.

“There may be scepticism that it is part of a ‘fluffy’ agenda from a Conservative Prime Minister, but this is something that trade unions have been doing for a long time,” he argued.

“We should be promoting anti-smoking initiatives, reps should be checking that the canteen is putting on healthy food for the staff and we should be persuading employers to introduce preventive health measures, for example screening for breast and testicular cancer.”

RMT Learning Organiser Sharon Allen said the union had run successful health awareness events during Adult Learning Week.

“Men are very bad at going to the doctors, but they are more likely to get involved in screening or preventative programmes if their mates at work are taking part,” Sharon pointed out.

Half of senior managers surveyed in 2008 believed none of their workers would ever suffer from a mental health problem during their working life, whereas one in six people in the UK experience depression and problems related to stress.

“There is still a stigma attached to mental health and it’s clearly a trade union issue that this prejudice should be challenged,” said unionlearn Regional manager Barry Francis.

“ULRs have a role to play in providing employers, colleagues and the community with the relevant information so that support can be provided.”

Cover photo of (from left) ASDA Distribution Erith Site General Manager Stephen Reid, GMB Regional Learning Organiser Liliya Brabbs and GMB Organiser Brandon Kemp by Rod Leon

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