Reaching all parts of the workforce!
Some groups of workers, such as those working nights and lone workers can get overlooked when it comes to learning and training. But UCATT union learning representative Kevin Clarke has helped to ensure that this is not the case at City of Lincoln Council, where night workers like cleaners, and those working alone, such as caretakers and car park attendants, are all included in the authority’s training programme.
UCATT Regional Council member and Senior Shop Steward Kevin become a union learning representative some 4 years ago and has not looked back, being presented with a Skills for Life Advocate award by unionlearn in 2007.
On receiving the award Kevin said: “I really wanted to reach the sections of the workforce who had been overlooked for training through no fault of their own, such as part time and shift workers, who tended to under value themselves as a result. I also wanted to encourage the families of people who worked at the authority to take part, to increase the overall awareness of learning, not only through a working environment, but also outside of work.”
Everyone should be trained, regardless what they do.
Kevin went on to explain” Everyone should be trained up to level 2 no matter what they do. We put that into practice, making sure for example, that part -time women cleaners working nights at the Town Hall are not left out of the training programme. They have all now done NVQ level 1 and 2 courses in cleaning and maintenance, and we are also getting caretakers onto to level 2 courses.”
One of the cleaners to benefit from the training is UCATT member Jo Bentley. Now a ulr herself, Jo promotes the literacy, numeracy and IT courses to other cleaners working at night and has also encouraged 22 car park attendants to enrol on skills for life courses.
Taking on a coordinating role for union learning within the council, which employs around 800 people has helped Kevin negotiate the learning agreement, with the support of UCATT Regional Officer, Mike Nelson; and to set up a learning committee, with equal representation from all 4 unions with members in the authority – Unison, GMB and Unite.
There is now a corporate learning centre with three rooms including a computer suite, and UCATT has been at forefront of organising joint union Learning Days, which take place each year and held in different locations around the authority, in order to give as many employees as possible the chance to see what training opportunities are on offer.
Sally Des Forges, Training Coordinator for Maintenance and Investment believes that ULRs like Kevin play a really important role in encouraging staff back into learning. “ULRs provide a momentum that is sometimes missing, and can push and promote issues that can be forgotten. They also provide a voice for people to air issues that they may not feel comfortable talking to their line managers about”.
