Author: unionlearn news releases

Barrie Hughes, aged 58, from Burgess Hill, has worked for the parks department in Brighton and Hove for 14 years and had always hidden the fact that he couldn’t read and write, before finally deciding it was time to seek some help.

Maria Gough, aged 50, from Harlow, left school with few qualifications, but 24 years later, she has fulfilled her ambition of becoming a Senior Nurse, while gaining a Master’s degree in Law.

Ged Bretherton, aged 45, from Warrington, has gone from working in a warehouse to attending meetings at Westminster, since he took his first tentative steps into learning.

Skills Secretary and Labour MP for Southampton Itchen, John Denham, Sarah McCarthy-Fry, Labour and Co-operative MP for Portsmouth union learning representatives (ULRs) from Unite, PCS, CWU, Unison, FBU, ATL, Prospect and SCPOD will today (Thursday 30th April) meet to discuss how local people and employers are benefiting from union-led learning. The Portsmouth and Southampton MPs will meet reps from Southampton City Council, the Maritime and Coastguard Agency, Hampshire Fire and Rescue and Eaton Aerospace.

As the annual Black Workers’ Conference opens in Scarborough today (Friday 24th), the TUC is calling for more training opportunities for Black and Asian workers.

Dave Ross, a painter and decorator at Southampton Council, met Secretary of State John Denham, his local MP, recently at a reception at Westminster hosted by unionlearn, the TUC’s learning and skills organisation. Dave Ross is a union learning rep (ULR) from Unite who was invited to the event at which John Denham congratulated unionlearn, the TUC and unions on reaching an agreed target of 22,000 trained and accredited ULRs. Described by John Denham as ‘your best friend in the workplace’, ULRs promote the learning message and work with employers, through their unions, to help colleagues to access courses, such as IT, English, Maths, or Continuing Professional Development. Dave Ross was able to tell the Secretary of State all about union learning at Southampton Council.

The Federation of Poles was delighted to learn that John Denham, MP, Secretary of State for DIUS will today (Wednesday 22 April) make an award to Joanna Szmit, a union learning rep (ULR) and a bus driver at Metroline in London. At a reception in Westminster, John Denham will congratulate Joanna, unionlearn, the TUC’s learning and skills organisation and trade unions as they reach an agreed target of 22,000 ULRs trained, over a year earlier than scheduled. Joanna, a recently trained ULR for Unite, was chosen to represent the 22,000 ULRs, who promote the learning message and work with employers, through their unions, to help colleagues to access courses, such as IT, English, Maths, or Continuing Professional Development.

Black and Asian learners are reaping big rewards from trade union-led learning at rates which are well above the national average, reveals a new report from Ofsted (the Government’s education standards watchdog). In the report on U-Net, part of unionlearn, the TUC’s learning and skills organization, Ofsted found that success rates for Black learners have risen from 54% in 2007/08 to 81.8% and for Asian learners from 70.2% to 82.1% a significant improvement on the national average. The report also found that there is a ‘strong ethos to widen participation and promote social inclusion’ and that ‘equality of opportunity is good’.

There was fulsome praise for the partnership between employers and trade unions in a recent Ofsted report on U-Net, part of unionlearn, the TUC’s learning and skills organization. Ofsted found that ‘employers benefit from these partnerships, with improved staff morale, reduced sick leave and staff turnover, fewer complaints and grievances, and higher rates of internal promotion.’ The report places U-Net among the best providers in the country, awarding a Grade 2 for all aspects of learning provision. Ofsted judged overall success rates as above national averages and support for learners as outstanding.

Skills & Business Expo 09 is held in association with the Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills (DIUS) and supported by Department for Business Enterprise and Regulatory Reform (BERR), CBI, unionlearn and the Federation of Small Businesses (FSB). Liz Smith, unionlearn Director said: “Unionlearn, the TUC’s learning and skills organisation, works with both the private and public sectors to enhance and optimise employees’ learning opportunities. Unionlearn and trade unions, through a network of over 20,000 union learning reps (ULRs)…’