Update - Spring 2012

unionlearn Midlands Region

ISSUE 12 >> SPRING 2012

www.unionlearn.org.uk

Welcome to update!

Unionlearn is here to provide support to trade unions on the education, learning and skills agenda. In this issue we profile some examples of the work we facilitate in the region that add value to the union learning agenda. This ranges across supporting ULRs through the provision of local forums to developing and supporting initiatives that make a real difference for people.

Our magazine insert this time focuses on ‘Skills Utilisation’ which will be of interest and concern to many of you as we work to support colleagues develop their skills in the workplace. It has been highlighted that many people do not get the opportunity to use their skills at work which can only be bad for workers, for businesses and the economy. I hope you will find the insert useful in raising the issues in your union and in your workplace.

Recently I was delighted to be able to present the unionlearn Quality Award to South Nottingham College for its Deaf Awareness Programme. In the adjoining column you can read about some of those who have already benefited from the programme.

Learning centres are more often than not at the heart of successful learning in the workplace. In this issue we feature Steelite International in Stoke on page 7 and their most recent initiative with Unity to encourage employees to ‘Go-Online’.

On page 3 we look at the role of the Community Learning Champion and highlight the benefits of ULRs and CLCs working together to reach the disadvantaged, both at work and in the wider community.

Our Trade Union Education Centres in the region provide a varied programme of training for union reps and on page 6 you can read about the new Equalities Diploma starting in April, as well as get the answer to some questions on the provision.

I hope you enjoy this edition and are able to take up some of the opportunities advertised.

Mary Alys Regional Manager

Shop staff help themselves to deaf awareness Tesco staff from Long Eaton have been improving their customer skills with deaf awareness learning – and it’s all thanks to their local Quality Award winning college.

ULRs at the store Michelle Coleman and Angela Scanlon organised a British Sign Language Level 1 course for colleagues. “We ran a basic deaf awareness course for 12 learners in the store and it was so successful that people wanted to carry on and do more,” said Neil Chapman, Usdaw’s Lifelong Learning Project Worker.

As a result both Michelle and Angela signed up to a free British Sign Language Level 1 course run at South Nottingham College.

The women also had the bright idea of linking into the area’s deaf community and visited Stanton Vale Community Special School in Long Eaton, where learners practice what they are learning in the classroom with youngsters who communicate by sign. “It’s a great arrangement. The children love it as they get to see new faces and we get to practice our new skills and techniques,” said Michelle.

Union members, including Usdaw and Unison, also joined the course from Tesco South Wigston, Bulwell, Rugby and Lincoln as well as others from the Trade Union City Learning Centre in Nottingham.

The course is delivered at times convenient to the learners with the college completely flexible and catering for all shift patterns. The course is tailored for shop floor members of staff, and involves taking them onto the shop floor to teach them signs they may need to know when being asked, for instance, where certain products are.

The unionlearn Quality Award was presented to South Nottingham College by Midlands unionlearn Manager Mary Alys in February.

update unionlearn Midlands region ISSUE 12 >> SPRING 2012

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Writer

Astrid Stubbs

Design

wave.coop

Printers

ZetaColour

Cover pic

Mansfield Council Jobs Club. Courtesy Mansfield Borough Council.

www.unionlearn.org.uk

Common cause

Leicester Community Learning Champions (CLCs) supported ULRs when they organised a range of learning activities in the city, proving the huge benefits of joint working.

The ULRs from Leicester City Centre workplaces worked with partner organisations to create a Celebration of Learning event in the city centre.

Unison, Unite, PCS, GMB and UCATT all contributed ideas and contacts for a wide range of learning tasters, most of which were provided free of charge.

The event was held over two days with a wide variety of learning, including: Sign Language, Italian, Skills for Life, Numeracy, Family History, Jewellery Making, Cake Decorating, Mendhi, Meditation,

Alexander Technique, Astronomy and Archaeology. People were also encouraged to Get On line as well as to become Digital Champions.

Community Learning Champions (CLCs) are volunteers who become active in their community promoting the value of learning to others. Some CLCs work with specific communities of interest, such as older people, social housing tenants, ex-offenders and their workmates. Some focus on learning in particular contexts, such as heritage and culture, digital skills or community development. In some cases CLCs also support their peers with signposting and advice on wider issues like housing, health and family finances. They are sometimes known as ambassadors, mentors or advocates.

Now it’s hoped to increase such joint working ULRs with a new toolkit produced by unionlearn called Reaching Communities.

The toolkit has been developed for ULRs, CLCs and other learning advocates but can be used by any trade union and community representatives working to promote

and support learning.

It recognises the wide range of benefits that can result from trade unions and Community Learning Champions working together, including reaching disadvantaged groups in the workplace and the local community, enhancing learning opportunities, sharing resources and approaches and learning from each other.

Find out more The toolkit, which includes practical steps, ideas, inspiring case studies and resources, is available at www.unionlearn.org.uk/ initiatives/learn-4405-f0.cfm www.communitylearning champions.org.uk

New network for transport rep

ULR Stephen Sharpley helps colleagues at his DHL Wellingborough workplace find courses that will improve their learning.

And when it comes to support for himself Stephen really appreciates being part of the regular ULR forums organised by unionlearn across the region. www.unionlearn.org.uk

Stephen, a member of the transport union URTU, says: “I come from a transport background but other reps come from the NHS or local councils – all from different background. They’ve all got different problems and have overcome them in different ways so can suggest ideas you might not have thought of.

“The forums are also good for networking so that if you face a problem in the future you can contact someone. I also find the forums useful as they are a place to hear about different providers if you are trying to find funding for a course.”

Over the last 10 months unionlearn has held 14 ULR forums across all the counties in the Midlands, attracting a total of 268 ULRs like Stephen.

The forums provide an ideal opportunity for ULRs to update and build their knowledge of current educational initiatives and share best practice with each other. The informal style encourages reps to actively participate in the forum topics and request further topics or taster learning sessions for future forum events.

Apprenticeships have stimulated major discussions and debate at all the forums, along with the UK Online initiative and ULR development programmes. Learning taster sessions have included Negotiating Skills, Setting up a UK Online Centre and Online Basics.

Find out more from the unionlearn Birmingham office at Tel 0121 236 4454 3

Feature > A helping hand Whether it’s supporting jobless teenagers, workers from overseas needing UK qualifications or helping staff who have lost their jobs unionlearn adds value in many ways

Teenagers join the job club “It's vital for young people to have independent advice and good mentoring in a new career; trade union representatives are well equipped to offer this additional support.”

Teenagers in Mansfield were offered a unique opportunity to look for work while being paid to learn new skills as part of a Job Shop partnership involving Mansfield District Council and unionlearn.

Now five young people who took part in the pioneering project have won apprenticeships with the council in bricklaying, plumbing, painting and decorating and electrical skills.

The project was also shortlisted in the Economic Development category of the Local Government Chronicle (LGC) Awards 2012, which rewards the very best in Local Government and recognises the excellent service that councils deliver.

Said one of the youngsters, William Simpkin, 16: “I’m really enjoying the apprenticeship and I feel really lucky to have a job because I know there are not many jobs out there at the moment. I’m learning lots of new skills which will help me develop my career for the future.”

The project was a partnership with West Nottinghamshire College, local employers and unionlearn. Unionlearn delivered a session on employment rights and responsibilities.

Gemma Etches, Learning and Development Project Officer at Mansfield said: “Working in partnership with unionlearn was valuable to what the Job Shop was able to offer.

Presenting young people with important and essential information on rights and responsibilities in the workplace complimented the overall programme aimed at raising employability skills. It's vital for young people to have 4

independent advice and good mentoring in a new career; trade union representatives are well equipped to offer this additional support.”

Added Craig Stuart, Regional Education and Health & Safety Officer for the GMB: "We see apprentices as key employees of the future and therefore strongly support initiatives that offer practical guidance and help with employability. GMB regard it as crucial that young people are given an insight into employment relations as part of their whole learning experience.”

When redundancy hits

www.unionlearn.org.uk

Tesco staff check out qualifications unionlearn has been backing the USDAW union in a unique approach to supporting migrant workers at Tesco in Leicester.

USDAW wants to promote learning for those who achieved their qualifications overseas and offered the staff the opportunity to work out what their qualitifactions’ equaivalents are in the UK. The event took place over two days and was on a 24 hour basis in order to reach everyone on the store’s shift patterns.

This is the first Tesco store where unionlearn has been able to work in partnership with USDAW to deliver workplace overseas qualification equivalence and already 10 members of staff have begun accessing the service. After the first sessions proved so successful USDAW is in the process of spreading this through other Tesco stores. unionlearn Midlands is also working on a project to support people with overseas qualifications to get equivalence to UK standards. The project is supporting unions as diverse as USDAW, UNITE, BFAWU, CWU and the GMB to give opportunities to those with qualifications in workplaces where they are recognised. unionlearn is to train a project worker and ULRs to deliver overseas comparisons within workplaces across the Midlands using comparisons provided

by NARIC, the National Agency responsible for providing information, advice and expert opinion on vocational, academic and professional skills and qualifications from over 180 countries worldwide.

Adding value to members’ lives can take the form of helping them find new work when they are made redundant.

And that’s what’s been happening at Bombardier in Derby where hundreds of people have been laid off.

Danny White, Coordinator at the CSEU Learning Centre, said support was organised with a working group following the redundancy announcements. unionlearn was able to bring together a range of relevant partners to provide practical solutions as well as work with all the unions involved to ensure everyone's needs were met.

The group, chaired by Danny, included unions, management as well as Job

www.unionlearn.org.uk

Tesco ULRs Jerome Eatough and Betty Partridge helped offer overseas staff the chance to work out how their qualifications compare in the UK.

Centre Plus, Next Step, the Money Advice Service, Semta, the Skills Funding Agency and others.

Staff facing redundancy have been given one-to-one skills transfer interviews with an adviser from Next Step. In addition they received group session and one to one support on preparing their CVs. This was followed by a career planning workshop and money advice sessions. Workshops on self employment and pre-retirement planning have also been offered.

The group has held two job fairs at the Pride Park Stadium, with an onsite advertising area for some 30-40 local employers offering vacancies.

With job cuts announced at the city

council along with other local company cuts, Danny said the aim of the group has been to give its staff a head start in finding new opportunities at a very competitive time.

So far the feedback has been good with some staff finding new work and transferring their skills to other employers.

A final audit will be held in the spring once the project is complete.

Said Danny: "The company and unions have been determined to put together a substantial programme of support. It is important that we ensure everyone leaving the business has the best opportunity to find alternative employment."

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Q+A

FOCUS ON

on…

TU Ed courses

The Equalities Diploma

The path to equality

Q Are the courses free – do I have to pay?

A Although there is no cost passed on to the student, TUC courses are not free. The course fees are met through arrangements with the funding authorities. This is because training union reps is a key element of economic progress.

Q Do I get a certificate at the end?

A Yes, if you successfully complete the course you’ve enrolled on. There are three types of qualification; Award, Certificate and Diploma. An Award is the shortest qualification normally taking five days of learning to achieve. The Diploma is the longest, taking 36 day-release sessions.

Certificates can be achieved over a single term of ten to twelve day-release sessions.

The qualifications are awarded by the National Open College Network and approved by the government’s Qualifications and Curriculum Authority.

Q Can I enrol straight onto a Diploma course?

A No. This is because the TUC programme of union rep training is progressive. Normally you would need to complete appropriate Award or Certificate courses as part of a development programme.

Q Where do the courses take place?

A TUC courses are delivered by professional tutors employed by further education colleges or the Workers’ Educational Association. In the Midlands we work with seven such providers offering courses from twelve venues across the region. These range from Lincoln in the east to Shrewsbury in the West and Mansfield in the North to Northampton in the South. A complete list is published in our annual brochure available from the TUC regional office.

Many TUC courses are also available online. Go to www.unionlearn.tuc.org.uk for application instructions.

Q Why do I need to do TUC courses? I’m already a good union rep?

A Of course it’s possible to be a good union rep without any formal training but you’ll be learning entirely from experience and on its own that can be a cruel master. Working with other union reps is an excellent way to develop new skills and confidence.

You’ll also be given up-to-date information on employment relations issues and find out how to overcome those big barriers and problems that union reps often find insurmountable.

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Midlands Regional Education Officer Pete Try explains the Equalities Diploma

Unions have always led the way in the push for equality at work, whether through the struggle for equal pay, tackling racism or working for equal access to learning and skills.

Now the Equalities Diploma brings together all the threads of the equality agenda so that reps have a thorough grounding in union policy, best practice and equality law.

Jason Evans, GMB Steward at Severn Trent Water, enrolled on the course at Derby College, because he says: "As equalities goes to the very heart of current and historic trade union values it was a natural progression for me to participate in this diploma. The benefits of improving knowledge and understanding, along with sharing best practices with other like-minded individuals, will provide me with the opportunity to further influence fairness with my colleagues and employers."

The Diploma is designed for experienced trade union representatives like Jason whose role would benefit from a wider understanding of equality issues and helps them understand equality issues in the workplace, current equality legislation and how it can be applied to their own organisation.

The diploma can be done in a number of ways: ❚ one-year, day-release course ❚ one-year, half-day and evening course ❚ two-year evening course ❚ as a flexible course blending some online learning with some classroom learning.

Future course dates Derby: 36 Tuesdays from 24 April Solihull: 36 Thursdays from 26 April

Find out more Pete Try, TUC Unionlearn Regional Education Officer E: ptry@tuc.org.uk T: 0121 236 4454

www.unionlearn.org.uk

Midland ULR courses // Autumn/Winter 2011 Birmingham Derby Derby Leicester Leicester Northamptonshire Northamptonshire Nottingham Nottingham Stoke on Trent Stoke on Trent Stoke on Trent

FOCUS ON

Union Learning Reps Union Learning Reps Stage 1 Union Learning Reps Stage 2 Union Learning Reps Stage 1 Union Learning Reps Stage 2 Union Learning Reps Stage 1 Union Learning Reps Stage 2 Union Learning Reps Stage 1 Union Learning Reps Stage 1 ULR Module 1 ULR Module 2 ULR Certificate

5 Wednesdays from 25 April 5 Fridays from 27 April 5 Fridays from 1 June 5 Fridays from 27 April 5 Fridays from 1 June 5 days from 23 or 24 April 5 days from 28 or 29 May 5 Fridays from 20 April 5 Fridays from 25 May 5 Mondays from 11 June 5 Mondays from 23 April 10 Wednesdays from 9 May

Our insert this issue focuses on skills utilisation, which means ensuring people are skilled for the jobs they do as well as getting the support and encouragement to use their skills in the best way possible at work. Unionlearn has organised an event on the subject on 24 April together with ACAS in Nottingham.

Find out more Email Surjit Kaur Chohan at schohan@tuc.org.uk

Learning centres

The Unity union has helped boost the IT Skills of members at Steelite International, one of the world’s leading producers of hotel ware.

Over 30 employees were supported to successfully complete the GO-Online basics course as part of a national drive to increase the use of the internet during their day-to-day activities and at work. They have been working with the IT Department trainer, Anne Polding, the company’s Union Learning Reps and its Learning Champions, Steelite has been striving to encourage learning at all levels. Based around the company’s appraisal system, employees are encouraged to discuss their professional training needs with managers and to highlight any personal training needs.

The company offers free, out-ofhours training to employees in Maths, English and ICT in its dedicated learning suite.

Steelite is also trying to build teams and add value to the company through locally sourced Business Improvement Technique courses, which have had the added benefit of encouraging people to go on to further learning.

The launch of an apprenticeship scheme to encourage more young people has focussed on office areas but the site services and maintenance

www.unionlearn.org.uk

teams are now following suit and recruiting younger people and giving them the tools to grow into part of the team.

Pat Griffin, Health and Safety and Training Manager said: “Our people are by far our biggest asset, so to help them achieve their full potential can only be good Paul, left, with Gerald Crookes, Project for the company.”

Manager for UNITY ULF. Steelite held its annual fun day in December and leading up to this event Unity encouraged employees to take their first steps Paul has been a member of Unity for towards going online. Take-up was 30 years and is a Learning Champion excellent with over 40 employees at the company. He said: “I am a registering and 30 employees Learning Champion in my department completing the course. and doing this course means a lot to Paul Davies, a mould maker said he me. Now I can show the lads what I had found the course really useful and have learned and hopefully encourage complemented the IT training that them to do the GO-ON line basics Steelite was providing. course too.”

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In brief

Contacts unionlearn Midlands Region 24 Livery Street Birmingham B3 2PA 0121 236 4454 unionlearnmidlands@tuc.org.uk Regional Manager Mary Alys

malys@tuc.org.uk

Regional Education Officer

Adult Learners’ Week from 12 to 18 May

Pete Try

is the UK’s largest annual festival of learning, inspiring thousands of people to discover how learning can change their lives.

Through numerous events and award ceremonies, the week celebrates all kinds of learners and promotes the benefits of every type of learning.

This year there will be seven themes for learning: Art and Culture, Family/Community, Learning for Health, Learning through Sport and Leisure, Learning through Technology and Innovation, Learning for Work and Learning about your World.

ptry@tuc.org.uk

Regional Union Development Coordinator Gary O’Donnell

godonnell@tuc.org.uk

Senior Union Support Officers Mick Brightman mbrightman@tuc.org.uk Lisa Stones lstones@tuc.org.uk Union Support Officers Alan Cook acook@tuc.org.uk Paul Humphreys phumphreys@tuc.org.uk Jurgita Pranculyte jpranculyte@tuc.org.uk

Find out more To find out how to get involved visit www.alw.org.uk/get-involved

Administrative Assistants Louise Power lpower@tuc.org.uk Surjit Kaur Chohan schohan@tuc.org.uk

Learning at Work Day During the week the Campaign for Learning organises Learning at Work Day and this year’s LAW Day is on May 17 with the theme Learning for Growth.

Find out more Visit www.campaign-for-learning.org.uk/ cfl/workplacelearning/lawday/themes/ index.asp for details and resources.

Are you or your members missing out on all the internet has to offer?

Unionlearn can help with free briefings for union reps and union learning reps.

The briefings cover demonstrations of Go ON - free online learning, bite-size tasters of online learning, becoming a Digital Champion and how to check out online resources.

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Find out more Contact Alan Cook at acook@tuc.org.uk if you would like more details about the next free workshop.