Wales TUC Reps of the Year Awards 2010
Wales TUC Reps of the Year Awards 2010: Workplace rep, health and safety rep, learning rep, equality award and green award
The Wales TUC recognise the importance of representatives such as workplace reps, health & safety reps and learning reps, in building the trade union movement and promoting equality in the workplace. There are hundreds of representatives in Wales who devote much time and energy protecting and improving pay and conditions, ensuring that workplaces are safer, greener and also creating new learning opportunities for their members. Often reps deal with wider subjects such as pensions and redundancy while they invariably have to deal with the specific problems of individual members. Their role is essential for trade union organisation and recruitment.
In September the Wales TUC held ceremony in Cardiff to present the Rep of the Year Awards for the categories Union Rep, Health and Safety Rep, Union Learning Rep, Equality Award and Green Award - a new award to recognise workplace representatives who have championed green issues in the workplace that have helped to reduce the environmental impact of their organisation
The awards were presented by the President of the Wales TUC Sian Wiblin and the General Secretary of the Wales TUC Martin Mansfield.
Union Rep of the Year 2010: Eileen O'Reilly, PCS
Eileen is a branch chair, office secretary and a health and safety rep for PCS. Eileen works for HM Revenue and Customs.
Over the past 12 months Eileen has supported her members through difficult times, she has dealt with office closures, job losses, cuts to public service and attacks on the civil compensation scheme. She is committed to visiting all offices within her branch especially those facing uncertain futures and closures so that members feel supported by the union and to encourage reps who may feel isolated.
As well as the support she gives her members, Eileen considers the most important contribution she has made towards building the union in her workplace has been by improving communication. She has forged links with PCS representatives across North East Wales and in 2009 she founded the North Wales Shop Steward Network.
The network aims to bring union activists from different unions together to offer mutual support in disputes and to take a coordinated approach to fighting the far-right. Since 2009 the group have supported postal workers, helped RMT members publicise health and safety issues and stood on the picket lines at the tax office, DWP office and the courts. The Network also formed the Wrexham Communities Against Racism group and ran a festival in Wrexham in November 2009 in opposition of the EDL/WDL.
Eileen believes passionately that unions should work together, she says: 'in the face of more savage cuts and attacks on public sector pay, pension and jobs it is more important than ever that unions work together to take collective action locally to win public support and provide services vital to the community.'
Health and Safety Rep of the Year 2010: Julie Knight, CSP
Julie is the regional health and safety rep and departmental health and safety rep for the CSP. She works for the NHS in a physiotherapy department that covers five counties.
Julie is health and safety rep to all who enter her department. She considers not only her colleagues but also the patients that attend clinics. Recently, Julie has organised a ramp to be installed with the correct height and length requirements along with hand rails and non slip surfaces (something that had been missed by the works and estate department). Julie is also running a campaign to raise awareness of musculoskeletal disorders. Much of Julie's health and safety work is done after work hours but Julie enjoys her role as health and safety rep.
Julie says: 'I have increased my knowledge on several aspects of the role including how to negotiate with management and problem solving. Our department certainly feels comfortable knowing that having a union health and safety rep helps reduce injuries. Having a health and safety rep ensures that members safety and well being are considered which makes the workplace a safer place.'
Equality Award winner 2010: Melvena Richards, UNISON
The winner of the Wales TUC 2010 Equality Award is Melvena Richards of UNISON.
Melvena is treasurer and welfare officer of the Cardiff and Vale branch of UNISON. She is also vice chair of the UNISON black members group and is a member of the UNISON regional equality committee. Melvena works for the Cardiff and Vale University Local Health Board which is one of the largest NHS organisations in the UK
Melvena has played a key role in engaging Migrant Workers in her branch by holding a migrant workers event. The event aimed to:
- encourage migrant workers to become involved in their union
- raise awareness about the issues migrant workers face
- increase their organisation and strength in the workforce
- network members with their branch so they know who to approach when they need assistance
Melvena played an integral part in the delivery of the event including planning, organising guest speakers, talking to migrant workers to encourage participation and working with branch representatives.
As a direct consequence of the migrant workers event a branch black members self-organised group was established which Melvena vice chairs. Melvena is also working with the Cardiff County branch to help them develop their black members group. She also offers a supportive advisory role within the branch for any issues relating to race or wider equality work.
Melvena says: 'I believe the event and subsequent work with the black members group has helped raise awareness of the issues faced by migrant and black workers. Due to black members increased participation in the union, the message of knowing your rights, challenging discrimination and the importance of union representation is also being fed out to the wider community.'
Green Award winner 2010: Tony Bates UNITE
Tony is branch chairman at the Magor Brewery site. The brewery is part of INBEV which is the biggest global brewing company in the world.
Two years ago Tony helped start a project called JUPITER which stands for Join us People in Tackling Energy Reduction. The project is driven from the shop floor and supported by management and it aims to reduce the energy used in the production process. Tony headed up the initial start of the project and he hand-picked a team of 'energy guardians' to work with him. He continues to chair the project with the help of a passionate team of energy guardians.
In just two years the team have achieved amazing results. They have managed to:
- reduce Water Consumption by 46%
- reduce Electricity Consumption by 49%
- reduce Heat by 23%
- in total they have reduced their overall carbon footprint by an impressive 40%
The project has now set up a coalition of Welsh companies co-chaired by the Carbon Trust and supported by the Welsh Assembly Government. The project is also being used by government as an example of best practice
Tony says: 'The union and its members have embraced this project and the company are very pleased with the results on a global level. The partnership approach is a major benefit to both unions and management.'
Union Learning Rep of the Year 2010: Rosalind Wilkins, BECTU (pictured with Sian Gale BECTU, Julie Cook WTUC, David Donavan BECTU and Brian Kelly BECTU)
Rosalind Wilkins is a member of BECTU and is a Union Learning Advisor (ULR) for the South Wales Branch. Ros works as a full time freelance make-up artist in the television and film industry.
Since she took up her role in 2004 Ros has managed to organise a range of relevant, focused and affordable courses for her colleagues including; airbrushing, HD Awareness, computer skills, prosthetics, CV development, self marketing, hair dressing and laying on of hair (beards, moustaches etc).
Organising training for freelancers has its own particular barriers. When they are not working, freelancers are often geographically isolated. For freelancers training can also be doubly expensive, because as well as paying for courses, they must also take time off work to attend with the resulting loss of income.
Ros has overcome the barriers to learning for freelancers by consulting regularly with her colleagues whether at work or during 'down' periods when they are in between jobs. She finds out their personal training needs and tailors courses accordingly by liaising effectively with providers and funders.
Ros organises courses created not only for people joining the industry but also sets up refresher courses for experienced workers and is confident that the classes will always be 'full of enthusiastic learners regardless of age or experience'
Ros is also a lifelong learner and has recently successfully completed her PTLLS qualification (Preparing to Teach in the Life Long Learning Sector).
One of the outstanding things about Ros is that she cares passionately about the up-skilling of her colleagues, even though they are in direct competition with her for work. As she is a freelancer Ros also carries out the role of Union Learning Advisor in her own time and without payment.
Ros says: 'Even after many years of employment I believe you learn something new every day. I want to give our freelancers confidence in their ability as well as maintaining standards now and for the foreseeable future. I also feel that I want to give something back'
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