National ULR Networking Event 2024

On 30^th October over 70 Union Learning Reps and learning activists from across the country converged on The Crowne Plaza Newcastle for the CWU’s National ULR Networking Event 2024. Chairing the event, Paul Dovey, CWU Learning & Education Co-ordinator, explained that the agenda had been designed to provide a wide range of resources for ULRs to promote learning to members. Most were tagged with QR codes to enable ULRs to scan and save them to their phones. You can access these resources here.

In welcoming everyone to Newcastle Trish Vollans, CWU Acting Regional Secretary for the North East and long-standing ULR, reminded delegates of the changes we have seen from the early days of the ULR initiative. Describing how closely the North East Regional Learning Lead works with the Regional Officers and Committee, she recognised that many ULRs, reps and managers had changed in the past 20 years. We could not assume that the purposes of union learning didn’t have to be re-explained every so often and we could all benefit from occasionally going back to basics to remind everyone, including potential learners of how union learning can change lives.

Our first guest speaker was award-winning documentary filmmaker and author, Morag Livingstone. Morag discussed the importance of understanding working class history and not allowing it to be marginalised and forgotten. Her focus was events in recent trade union history where justice is still being sought, including the Shrewsbury Pickets and the case for an enquiry into Orgreave, where she gave an update on the respective campaigns. She also explored how this was part of a wider picture of policing demonstrations and trade disputes that had implications for civil liberties in the 21^st Century. You can find further details of this in the book she co-authored with Matt Foot, Charged: How The Police Try To Suppress Protest.

In the next session Steve Croke stood in for Dean Quibell, who was unavailable. Dean is the lead ULR at Coventry Hubs and has been imaginatively using noticeboards to promote learning across the site. Steve explained how Dean’s use of noticeboards had inspired members across the site to engage with learning and how it had developed from a small idea into a planned programme that covered a wide range of workplace and community learning, including; the Suffragettes, Neurodiversity, Domestic Abuse, Homelessness, Men’s Health, Black History Month, the history of Coventry City FC, 2-Tone, the history of the Coventry elephants and Lady Godiva, the Coventry Blitz, Windrush, the menopause and deaf awareness. Future boards already planned will include; Haunted Coventry, Bonfire Night, Wellbeing and Creativity. Steve explained how Dean had created these noticeboards with just commitment and imagination but that the learning buzz that they created had resulted in an exceptionally high turnout when they invited West Midland Combined Authority Skills Partnership onsite to offer more learning and skills opportunities to members.

Next up was Bryony Evans of the Good Things Foundation, who came to discuss the Digital Divide. 8.5 million adults lack essential digital skills. 2.6 million households struggle to afford mobile phones and 1.9 million households struggle to afford broadband. 2.1 million adults are offline, 15% of whom are under 50 years old. 3.7 million households with children are below the Minimum Digital Living Standard and 14% of young people lack access to a device suitable for learning. The Good Things Foundation has a number of initiatives to address this, many of which could be of assistance to CWU members who may still be digitally excluded, such as the National Digital Inclusion Network of online centres and free resources, including the National Databank, providing free mobile SIM cards, the National Devicebank, refurbishing and distributing unwanted devices and the Learn My Way, an IT education platform.

Next, we heard from Louis Greenhalgh, a ULR from North West Central Amal. Louis is an ex Irish Guardsman and in December, along with former Royal Marine, Chris Thrall, he is planning to row the Atlantic Ocean to highlight the issue of veterans’ mental health and raise funds for homeless ex-forces personnel and bereaved service children. They are asking everyone to show their support by donating £5 to https://www.gofundme.com/f/oceanseliterow

The next session served to highlight the range of activities our ULRs are engaged in. Three ULRs from different parts of the country explained their different initiatives. Terry Henderson from Eastern No 5 reported on his work on adult and child literacy programmes, such as Quick Reads, World Book Day and World Book Night, scam awareness and internet safety, mental health awareness and raising awareness of domestic abuse and the support available. He pointed out these programmes had resulted in positive improvements in people’s lives. Adam Alarakhia from Leicestershire Postal described the South Asian History event he had helped organise. This explored South Asian history from both a social and industrial context. He also promoted the next event which will be taking place at Congress House on 28^th November. Sandra Absalom from South West No 7 described the different initiatives that she has run in Swindon, covering both formal and informal learning. These include; work with Swindon Carers Centre, signposting members with caring responsibilities to assistance and advice, which resulted in them being awarded the Swindon Employers Care Award. They also established a partnership with their local library, organised tutors at discounted group rates, organised meditation and relaxation classes and lots of informal courses and 1-2-1 sessions. Sandra finished her presentation with video interviews with 2 learners who described what a difference union learning had made to their lives.

Next up was Janet Johnson, TUC Northern Skills Project Officer, who explained how the devolution of Adult Education funding to Combined and Mayoral Authorities is affecting union learning. By 2025 this will cover 64% of England’s population and 54% of the land area. Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland also have devolved skills funding. This enables local authorities to decide type of learning and re-skilling best supports its population. Many are working with the TUC on a range of different skills projects. These projects recognise that ULRs know their workplace, the people who work there and what their issues and skills needs are. Janet explained how each project was different but generally offered a range of initiatives, including partnerships with local colleges, career reviews, CV writing & interview skills, getting online, understanding your pension, health and wellbeing and much more. Janet recognised that the devolved nature of the funding could create a bit of a postcode lottery of those who were and were not funded but this is increasingly being addressed as authorities become more aware of the problem. Her advice is to contact the nearest skills project and see if they can put you in touch with the relevant contacts.

CWU Head of Equality, Education & Development, Kate Hudson, brought the session to a close by presenting the Ken McKenzie Awards, named after the greatly loved and respected ULR, whose enthusiasm, drive and willingness to help touched everyone in the early days of union learning. It is in his honour that each year we make the award that bears his name to ULRs who have made a significant contribution to Lifelong Learning within the CWU. This year the recipients were;

• Adam Alarakhia, nominated by his branch Leicestershire Postal for his pivotal in organizing and promoting learning for members and their families. Having set up a dedicated learning centre at Leicester MPU, he has offered a variety of courses, including IT, social media, arts & crafts, available both on-site and through distance learning. His efforts to secure funding and build partnerships with local colleges has ensured a broad range of learning that has helped foster a culture of lifelong learning, ensuring that workers can access education to support both personal growth and career development. As a result, many members have gained confidence and valuable skills they can apply to both their current roles and future career opportunities. Adam is also one of our CWU tutors and regularly trains CWU Reps, in courses ranging from 1 day local Industrial Relations courses, to BAME Leadership courses.
• Dave Brownbill, nominated by his branch Greater Mersey Amal for his initiative in delivering CPR training across the branch, visiting all 28 Delivery Units, also running a number of courses for members employed in BT / Openreach and reps across the North West Region. The training has been such a great success that they have had to replace the training dummies due to the amount of use they have had! Dave has also campaigned to get onsite defribulators to a number of DOs and delivered training on their use. This has had a real impact. One of the members used their CPR to save the life of a family member – showing just how important this training can be.
• Steve Croke (South Midlands Postal), nominated by Eastern Region Education Committee & North Anglia Branch for his work supporting and montoring ULRs across the country. Steve has been a friend and mentor to many ULRs, always available with words of encouragement and useful information. He has been a driving force, leading the direction of Education for his Region, organising accredited and unaccredited training, arranging meetings with learning providers, supporting ULRs in the region and organising successful learning events with workshops and special guest speakers. As a successful Mental Health First Aid Trainer he has trained hundreds of reps and members. As a CWU Tutor he has tutored reps in a wide range of subjects, who have gone on to become excellent reps themselves, sustaining the future of the union.

In making the awards, Kate congratulated the recipients for their hard work and said they were an inspiration to us all.

The final session was the delivery of a Real Truth Legacy Project community learning workshop. This project has been developed by CWU ULRs in partnership with Ian Byrne, MP for Liverpool West Derby to ensure that the community remembers and learns lessons from the Hillsborough Tragedy. The programme includes both educational resources for schools and colleges and a toolkit for use by trade unions and like-minded organisations who wish to learn more about Hillsborough, the disaster, cover-up and the long campaign for justice. In exploring what lessons can be learned it also explores common themes linking Hillborough to other events such as Orgreave, Grenfell, Covid-19 relatives, Nuclear Test veterans, the Horizon and Infected Blood scandals, where ordinary working people have had to challenge the full power and wealth of the state in their fight for justice. Linked to this is the work Ian is doing with the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Public Accountability and the Hillsborough Law Now Campaign, which seeks to ensure that victims of other disasters no longer suffer the systemic failures faced by the bereaved Hillsborough families. The main points are to give public officials a legal duty of candour, to compel them to tell the truth, and for bereaved families to receive full and equal funding for lawyers to represent them at inquests and for public bodies to sign a charter committing to fair conduct. The Real Truth Legacy Project resources are now available to be rolled out across the UK.

In closing the event Kate thanked delegates for their attendance and contributions. She also thanked them for their ongoing commitment to delivering learning for CWU members. She reminded ULRs that we now have a joint Equality, Education & Development website that has been designed in line with requests to be more user friendly, with less clicks. On there they can find resources and hundreds of courses to help our members with their learning journeys. Events such as this are gatherings of friends, coming together to support, learn from and inspire each other.