LEARNWITHUNITE SUPPORT MONARCH UNITE MEMBERSAs the disturbing news unfolded that Monarch Airlines had gone into administration at the beginning of October the Learnwithunite team across the main locations of Manchester, Luton, Birmingham and Leeds Bradford came to the support of our Unite members.

The teams with dedicated Unite Learning Organisers (ULO) working with our and Legal Affiliate Co -coordinators (LAC) colleagues were proactive in their response to the Monarch announcement.

In order to make urgent contact they phoned, texted and/or emailed our members from their records on Unites memberships system offering support at various Unite offices throughout England.

Led by Paul Bouche (Regional Officer) there was a large response and attendance at meetings at Manchester and Birmingham Airport where Reps were given an

overview of the support that could be offered by the Learnwithunite team, as well as information relating to entitlements and the Protective award.

Following these meetings the team’s co-ordinated immediate response in the regions by arranging other support mechanisms including one to one drop in sessions, awareness days and follow up. These sessions incorporated information to our members on a wide range of issues, including legal advice, support with CV’s/job applications, referrals to other organisations, debt advice and support in filling in online forms.

In addition to the support given, the majority of those members attending these events have also signed up to our Back to Work membership and shall receive continued support from the team as requested.

Members were very open to show their gratitude;

‘Thanks you so much for updating my CV, it looks so much better’ Caroline Carter, member Birmingham

‘Thank you very much for my CV, it’s fantastic! I received my copies in the post the other day and there are more than enough copies in there so thank you’ Becky Moore, member Birmingham

LWUnews

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Kenny BarronHead of ULF

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NEY&H LearnwithUnite team do the hatrickEach year the unionlearn Annu-al Conference recognises the hard work of Union Learning Reps (ULR) and encourages unions to nominate reps for the ULR of the year awards. The awards are presented to ULRs to showcase how they are mak-ing a difference and changing people’s lives through union learning.

This year Unite the Union ULR Danny Davis from Aviva In-surance in York was presented with the award for Supporting Apprenticeships.

Danny worked with Learn with Unite in the NEYH and the employer to set up a successful apprenticeship pilot within Aviva. Following the success of this pilot, a bigger scheme was rolled out across larger parts of the compa-ny. Danny has now overseen 1100 ap-prentices over the past 18 months on various schemes ranging from Level 2 to Level 5 and delivered training in part-nership with Learn with Unite to fellow ULRs on how to deliver the apprentice-ship offer.

DANNY DAVIS

ASHLEY PICKERINGLeeds Unite member Ashley Pickering has been named regional winner of this year’s Festival of Learning ‘Learning for Work’ Award, in recognition of the achievements he has chalked up in the two years he has been working for First Group Leeds.

Diagnosed with dyslexia and Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) at school, Ashley left full-time education with no formal qualifications and the be-lief he would never get any.

With the support of his Unite learning rep Barry Young and First Group NVQ Assessor Mandy Harmer, Ashley has successfully completed his Passenger Carrying Vehicle apprenticeship, along

with his first qualifications in English, maths and IT.

That wasn’t an outcome he was expecting when he started work as a driver at the Bramley de-pot two years ago. In fact, when Mandy asked if he wanted to enrol on the apprenticeship, she could tell the lack of support at school had left its mark.

With Barry and Mandy’s sup-port, Ashley passed both his English and maths Level 1 ex-ams. “I only realised it was a proper English test when Man-dy asked for the extra time with my dyslexia, but I passed it – I was quite surprised!” he says. Since then Ashley has gone on to additional qualifications in a range of topics.

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DAPHNE ROBINSDaphne Robins completed the hatrick by winning the TUC’s ‘Union Learning Rep Award” for 2017. Here we find out from Daphne what being a ULR means to her and her col-leagues at Hull City Council.How long have you been a member of Unite the union?I joined Unite in October 2012.

How long have you been a Union Learning Rep?I was elected as a ULR at a branch meeting in October 2014.

What have you done since becoming a ULR to support your colleagues?

Since becoming a ULR I have supported colleagues into adult apprenticeships, as well as get-ting a large tranche of people into level 2 short courses.

To understand the learning that would be beneficial, I contact-ed over 1000 people across the Council through telephone, email and face to face interac-tions. I then followed this up with seven enrolment events for anyone in the Council to attend.

I have been able to secure the support of elected mem-bers and senior officers within the Council.

Feedback from colleagues has been positive and peo-ple have said how they have been able to access future training, using the skills they have learnt from the work I have done as a stepping stone to further adult qualification. Many have gone from doing no learning to now being fully bought in to it.

What is the most rewarding part of being a ULR?I really enjoy seeing the benefit that other people can get from their contact with the Union and what the Union can offer to people in the Council. It’s such a positive feeling to see people enjoy-ing learning.

I get a great buzz from being a ULR and from helping others. The challenge of putting together a package of support (what’s available, how to enrol, and the process of how to achieve a qualifica-tion) is really exciting to be able to do. Being able to support my colleagues through this process is great.What are your future goals as a ULR?As part of the process of being a ULR I have undertaken some qualifications. There are a couple more qualifications coming up for me. I would also like to complete some more level 2 and 3 courses personally. In addition to this I will be completing some more training provided by Unite.What does winning the TUC award mean to you?I’m delighted and humbled to have received the TUC award. I never ex-pected to win it. I’m grateful to the LearnwithUnite team for the

nomination. I think the award reflects the added value that LearnwithUnite has brought to the Council.

It takes more than one person and, by working together, we have been able to support a lot of learners.

I had a big learning curve to get to where I am and I have really enjoyed it. I couldn’t have done any of this without Unite and LearnwithUnite.

What would you say to someone who was thinking about becoming a ULR?The right person to become a ULR needs to be someone who appreciates the value of lifelong learning and how this can be portrayed to others. Someone who understands the impact learning has on their develop-ment and their family’s learning.

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Unite Reps at Thirteen recent-ly held an away day at Mid-dlesbrough FC. This was to bring all the reps from across the employer together and up-date them on disciplinary and grievance procedures along with utilising LearnwithUnite in the workplace.

The day was run by Unite tutor Ian Pfluger and supported by union learning organiser, Lin-da Hughes. Mike Routledge, regional officer gave an outline of Unite’s Political Strategy and union structure. The day was

AWAY DAY FOR REPS AT THIRTEENparticularly beneficial to the newer reps and gave them an opportunity to meet reps from other sites and a better un-derstanding of their roles and how all the reps can work together for the ben-efit of the members.

FULL STEAM AHEAD AT PD PORTSUnite has signed a Learning Agreement with PD Ports on Teesport. Signing the agreement on behalf of Unite, regional officer, Suzanne Reid, said “In an ever evolving world we need to be susceptible to change and learning new skills. Unite’s Learning Agreement with PD Ports aims to break down barriers to engage members in learning whether it be vocational for future employment, or Spanish to order a beer and paella!!”

Suzanne was joined by Group HR Director, Russ McCallion, who stated “This is a great example of PD Ports and Unite working together to support personal development and

assisting the lifelong learning of those people that make our business great; helping them to acquire essential skills that they need to live. We are committed to ensuring that together with Unite we can further support learning, making opportunities accessible to everyone within the business”.

Mick Simpson, Unite learning organiser, added “This is just the latest example of how Unite works in partnership with companies to promote work based lifelong learning opportunities that boost skills levels across the organisation both personally and professionally. I look forward to working with everyone to develop and sustain initiatives that will bring positive benefits, raise aspirations and realise potential”.

Mick also paid tribute to Unite’s Union Learning Representative at the port, Ashley Hunt.

“Although only recently elected he has already raised awareness of what is on offer and has recruited a number of learners who are working towards a range of different qualifications. He has also put together a group that will shortly be starting accredited courses in Functional skills Maths and English – well done Ashley”.

In response Ashley said “Learnwithunite can open doors for our members and colleagues and I will be working hard to encourage people to take advantage of the learning opportunities on offer”.

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UNITE CONSTRUCTION:HELPING TO BUILD A BETTER FUTURE FOR UNITEUnite Construction continues to help deliver on Unite priorities.Core activity includes:• Supporting Apprentices,

including enhancing terms and conditions, within the construction sector through Unite resources

• Providing Employment Rights and Responsibilities briefings to members/ potential members

• Support around NVQ provision in the construction industry

• Negotiating/ updating learning agreements with employers across the industry and provider agreements to the benefit of our members

• Working towards the ambition of 1 million workers covered by learning agreements

• Supporting learners through community based learning centres and extending Unite’s offer to include support back into work.

An area where Unite continues to make a positive impact is health and wellbeing. Particular attention has been spent on mental health and the issue of problematic gambling in the workplace. Unite Construction offers support and raises awareness in these areas, emphasising the importance learning has around mental health and problematic gambling. It continues to work

with employers such as Carillion and organisations including Beacon Counselling and GambleAware to support members and workers.

Working alongside the Unite National project, there is a unique opportunity to support members across a variety of sectors. Construction work begins and ends as a ‘visiting circus’ model. Once construction is completed, workers and employers move on to the next site and, in many cases, so does the learning activity. As a result of the merger, Unite has an opportunity to have members and workers accessing learning from the very beginning right through to completion and into the workplace for what the building or site will be used for post construction. This will provide an offer to members across a variety of sectors with Unite being the link throughout development and completion.

Unite Construction staff are based in regional offices. Monthly reports highlight activity with regional organisers supporting organising and recruitment including 100% campaigns, continuing to integrate the learning offer into mainstream union activity.

The project will look to support the Unite Construction Growth Strategy and ensure an early Unite presence on current and planned key regional/ national infrastructure projects. They include:• Manchester University

development• A14 road widening• Sizewell C development• Canary Wharf• Airport expansion including

Manchester and Stansted.

Unite Construction Learning Organiser, Billy Butterworth, with members and learners at Manchester Town Hall

GOT A STORY?CONTACT GILL PEARSON – GILL.PEARSON@UNITETHEUNION.ORG

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www.learnwithunite.org

Regional Learning ManagersNEY&H- Gill Pearsongill.pearson@unitetheunion.org

NW- Jane Broomejane.broome@unitetheunion.org

Midlands- Michelle Abbotsmichelle.abbots@unitetheunion.org

SW- Steph Westonsteph.weston@unitetheunion.org

LE&SE- Dean Briodydean.briody@unitetheunion.org

Unite in Construction - Keith Lewiskeith.lewis@unitetheunion.org

National Co-ordinatorsMonitoring and EvaluationBrian Davisbrian.davis@unitetheunion.org

Trax - Jim Richiejim.ritchie@unitetheunion.org