The Community and Trade Union Learning Centre on the Olympic Park celebrated World Book Day by taking learning into Marylands Children’s Surestart Centre. Staff from the centre, run by unionlearn with Southern and Eastern Region TUC ran two workshops for children and parents, focusing on numeracy and literacy skills. They also organized a book swap club and distributed Quick Reads – short books for adult

Using a Learndirect book called Where Does the River Go?, Jane Warwick enabled parents and children to work together to answer puzzles and questions, which allowed them to progress through the story, click here to read Where Does the River Go. Unlike conventional books, this one requires readers to solve quizzes to find the next page number of the story for it to continue because the storyline jumps around the book.

Parents and children got a lot out of it and enjoyed the workshops, so much that Centre Coordinator Amelia Kudatsih-Agyei has asked Jane to come back and run sessions for male carers and she will also run a session for parents on 21^st March, where they can complete a personalized book. Weekly literacy classes will also be run at the school from the end of March.

Barry Francis, Regional Manager, unionlearn with Southern and Eastern region TUC said:

‘The Community and Trade Union Learning Centre is a fantastic example of trade unions working at the heart of the community to raise people’s skills levels. When parents develop their reading skills, it gives them confidence, which they pass on to their children. Our work with Marylands is a great project.’

Amelia Kudatsih-Agyei, Centre Coordinator at Marylands Children’s Surestart Centre said:

‘The sessions were really fun. The parents are thrilled with books and are really looking forward to creating their own storybooks. It was such a success that I have invited the CTU staff to come back and run another session with the fathers’ group in April.”

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Inside our books special: Andy McNab, Maureen Lee, Quick Reads*, World Book Night and Six Book Challenge.

Click here to access a list of current online courses

It is a good opportunity to meet up with local colleges and others to exchange information and organise learning across the local area.
This meeting is open to all union reps, ULRs, and union officers.
This event is free of charge and includes a buffet lunch.

To book your place or request more information
Please use this email form or contact: Johanna Garcia – jgarcia@tuc.org.uk 0207 467 1342

The event was chaired by ODA Board member and trade unionist Barry Camfield, who is also Chair of the CTU Steering Group. After paying fulsome tribute to the learners, he said that as a trade unionist, he was proud to support learning at the CTU Learning Centre, not only for union members, but also for workers from the surrounding area and members of the community. He continued by saying that it was great to highlight unions’ successes in workplaces across country and to inspire people to feel that they can do better and be better. ‘A little bit of learning helps you take important steps forward,’ he said. ‘There is a lot of deprivation in East London – but you are as important as anyone and should be given this chance.’ As he thanked the ODA, GMB, G4S and unionlearn SERTUC, he pointed out that over 600 people had gone through the centre. Feedback revealed a fantastic 76 per cent said the centre was excellent and 14 per cent said it was very good.

Unionlearn SERTUC regional manager Barry Francis welcomed everyone and reminded us that impressive as the centre’s record was, those 600 people who had enrolled, had actually taken up 2,500 learning opportunities. Thanks to the Union Learning Fund and the ODA , learners had been able to take that first step and raise their head above the parapet, by coming to the centre. He paid tribute to the learners for taking that step and to the centre staff, Phil Spry, Jane Warwick and Tanya Nelson.

As Dennis Hone, Chief Executive of the Olympic Delivery Authority (ODA), pointed out, unions and the ODA began working together on the construction agreement and he was full of praise for the TUC and unions for ensuring that there would be such a powerful legacy in terms of training and skills. He said ‘our intention has always been to ensure that people who worked on this project came out with new skills to take forward in the rest of their lives. While today is a day of celebration for all of you that have done so well, next year the visitors of the world will come here and you will be our ambassadors. So congratulations to you all.’

G4S Secure Solutions has been instrumental in spreading the word among its workforce and working with unionlearn SERTUC and the GMB to support the project. Richard West, ODA Account Director, G4S Secure Solutions outlined how the CTU centre had helped as their project expanded to Olympic proportions. ‘For G4S, this is a unique project and when we started we had 90 people on TUPE in November 2008. We worked with the GMB to make sure that everyone was treated fairly and to cope with our massive expansion, initially adding another 150 people from Gurkha services in the first three months. But since then we have worked closely with the surrounding boroughs to recruit, we employed 317 three years ago, this time last year we employed 450 and today its reached 860 plus 200 other workers across the park. We have recruited a very diverse workforce here, working very much in partnership with JobCentre Plus, the GMB and CTU Learning Centre.’ He concluded by putting out a call for female staff for next year and calling the CTU Learning Centre ‘a fantastic resource for us’.

Finally Paul Kenny, General Secretary GMB, unionlearn Board member and President of the TUC spoke movingly and passionately about the importance of learning and what it can do for individual confidence. He also took the opportunity to announce that the GMB was setting up an agency to help those who had worked at the site to find jobs after the 2012 games. Calling the jobs ‘a showstopper on your CV’, he vowed to create a practical legacy.

‘Coming here today is fantastic for me and I pay tribute to each and every one of you. It takes a tremendous amount of courage to go back into training. I left school at fifteen and never thought of going back into learning, the idea was a horror for me, but the union got me engaged in a course.’

‘The world sees working people and looks at them and thinks that’s what they do and thinks that’s all they can do. We are all unique individuals and if we spend a lot of time being told we are no good we begin to believe it. I think unionlearn is at the very core of what we do. We say just give people a crack at it, an opportunity and I’ve seen this work as I’ve been round lots of projects. In Brighton I met a refuse collector in his 50s, who said that the greatest thing about this is I’ve learnt to sign a birthday card for my kids and I’ve learnt to read the card. So remember, aspirations aren’t all about climbing Everest – it might just be to spell it. I am so proud of you learners, you really deserve it and if you feel confident, then there’s nothing that can’t be achieved.’

‘The trade union movement was one of the big suporters of this Olympics coming to London. We were progressive and we argued that it had to bring opportunities and standards. My idea was to get something better out of it and what I see here at this centre is something better.’

Learners received their certificates and were clearly proud to be recognised, for some of them it was the first time they had received any recognition for learning since school.

Date: Monday 5 December 2011
Time: 09:30 – 16:00
Venue: TUC, Congress House, London, WC1B 3LS

Tackling vulnerable employment is a key concern for policy makers and trade unionists. With the labour market yet to recover from the recession, and increasing numbers of those in work facing temporary and insecure employment, action to improve job quality for the lowest paid workers is as urgent as ever. 

The TUC and the other affiliate unions with funding from the UMF are holding a dissemination event on 5 December 2011 at Congress House.

This conference will allow Government and Shadow Ministers to give their views on how vulnerable work can be reduced. Participants will also hear from an expert panel of policy makers and academics who will consider whether we can ever hope to end vulnerable work. Speakers include:

• Edward Davey MP, Minister for Employment Relations, Consumer and Postal Affairs
• Ian Murray MP, Shadow Minister for Employment Relations
• Frances O’Grady, Deputy General Secretary TUC
• Debbie Coulter, Head of Programmes, Ethical Trading Initiative
• Professor Sonia McKay, Working Lives Research Institute
• Aaron Barbour, Research and Policy Manager, Community Links

The event will also give policy makers, community organisations, union reps and officials and researchers the opportunity to hear from trade unions who have been actively engaged in tackling vulnerable employment.

For more information contact ehendy@tuc.org.uk

Please use the link below to register for the conference.

Go to registration form

Has someone you know turned their life around or helped others through learning?

Should they be recognised and celebrated for their achievements?

Then why not nominate them for an Adult Learners’ Week Award?

WHY NOMINATE?

RECOGNISE LEARNERS for their efforts and achievements. EVERY nominated learner or project gets a national certificate of achievement.

SHOWCASE YOUR ORGANISATION through media coverage. Winners can also become ambassadors for their union and demonstrate the success of learning at work.

HELP SUPPORT UNION-INSPIRED LEARNING by telling success stories about learning, whether accredited, informal, online, in communities or as part of a project.  These help demonstrate the value of adult learning.

WHO SHOULD BE NOMINATED?

Any adult or project completing any kind of learning during 2011 can be nominated if you feel their story is outstanding in some way.  You can also nominate as many learners as you wish.

Nominate online at http://www.alw.org.uk/register

Register here for more information about how to get involved: http://www.alw.org.uk/register

THE DEADLINE FOR NOMINATIONS IS 5PM ON FRIDAY 27TH JANUARY 2012.