Sam Fairgrieve, 21, from Leicester, a UCATT member (Union of Construction, Allied Trade and Technicians), who works for Jelson Homes Ltd, has been chosen to represent the UK in bricklaying at the WorldSkills competition in Calgary this September. One of 26 young people, Sam will compete at the highest level as part of Team UK, which will feature experts in skills ranging from plumbing to landscape gardening. At an event in London, Sam was congratulated by new unionlearn Director Tom Wilson.
Unionlearn with the Northern TUC are this week saying a very fond farewell to current regional manager, Barney McGill MBE, who retires on Friday 28th August after working for the TUC (in several guises) for over ten years, and campaigning tirelessly on behalf of trade unions and their members for over 40.
The lowest paid apprentices should receive a boost this week as the minimum pay rate for apprenticeships increases from £80 to £95 a week, the TUC says today (Tuesday).
Commenting on the Government’s announcement today (Monday) of a £25 million scheme to create more than 5,000 new apprenticeships in the NHS, TUC General Secretary Brendan Barber said:…
Responding to the report published today (Tuesday) by the Alan Milburn Panel on Fair Access to the Professions, TUC Deputy General Secretary Frances O’Grady said:
“This report offers some strong prescriptions to cure the British disease of access to professions based on who you know rather than what you know….’
Tom Wilson, the newly-appointed Director of unionlearn, the TUC’s learning and skills organisation, called on more employers to work with trade unions on workplace training to beat effects of the recession. Too many employers are missing out on the benefits of partnership which will make their businesses more efficient. Tom Wilson takes up his role after the retirement of Liz Smith OBE, who oversaw the successful achievement of over 23,000 union learning reps trained, surpassing the target of 22,000 over a year early.
Wavertree MP Jane Kennedy visited Tesco (Friday 19th June) in Old Swan to see for herself the impact trade unions are having on helping staff to improve their skills. The Union of Shopworkers, Distribution and Allied Workers (USDAW) with the support of unionlearn, the TUC’s learning and skills organisation, and Tesco have established a learning initiative that enables staff based at the store to develop their own potential and career opportunities.
Over 600 Royal Mail staff at in Bradford will be better able to improve their skills as the SPACE learning centre launches a Digital Divide project with the Communication Workers Union (CWU) and unionlearn, the TUC’s learning and skills organisation (Thursday 18th June). This project will support online learning as the centre becomes part of the TUC’s U-Net network of trade union learning centres. The Digital Divide project will enable CWU members and their families who live and work in remote areas to access learning. Simon Scott, Mail Centre Manager, Royal Mail, Trish Lavelle, CWU Education Officer, and Dr Alan Roe, unionlearn regional manager will launch the new project.
Bernard McGill, unionlearn Regional Manager, has been awarded an MBE in the the Queen’s Birthday Honours List (13th June, 2009) for services to lifelong learning and to trade unions in the North East. Newcastle-based Bernard joined the TUC in 1999, with a brief to develop a network of union learning representatives in the region. Starting from scratch, he has been successful in working with trade unions and employers in the region to build up a cohort of almost 4,000 union learning reps across the North East. This network, supported by unionlearn, the TUC’s learning and skills organisation, has helped tens of thousands of learners in workplaces such as Newcastle City Council, Cummins, Darlington, and Royal Mail in Middlesborough.
Greenwich MP Nick Raynsford will see how his constituents are benefiting from union-led learning during a visit to TUC Study Centre, Woolwich (Friday 12 June). The MP will be taken on a tour of the learning centre and meet union learning reps (ULRs) from Unite, the GMB and UNISON, as well as learners from the Council. His constituents were keen to tell him about how they had improved their skills through a number of courses through learndirect.