Castleford worker launches petition to urge government to save Union Learning Fund

The TUC in Yorkshire & Humber, South Yorkshire Mayor Dan Jarvis, Tescos, the Make UK industry group have today joined forces to call on the government to reverse its decision to scrap the Union Learning Fund.

The call comes as the government is set to announce its comprehensive spending review on Wednesday 25 November.

Sean Dixon, a local worker who set up the DHL learning centre in Castleford, has launched a petition to the Education Secretary, asking him to save a programme that has trained 200,000 in work learners nationally since it was introduced.

The petition has already reached over 42,000 signatures.

Secretary of State for Education, Gavin Williamson recently proposed to axe the £12 million annual Union Learning Fund from spring 2021.

“Enormous contribution”

Sean Dixon, an Usdaw member and former employee at DHL Castleford, who started the petition, described how important his Union Learning Centre was to staff being made redundant at DHL Castleford, “We used to deliver Maths, English literacy and IT courses to staff on site. But when the redundancies were announced we really focused in on supporting members to get their CVs in order.

“We ran letter writing and CV workshops, identifying skills gaps and providing learning support.

“We always had a big focus on mental health and wellbeing at our learning centre, and this became so important when redundancies hit.

“Being told you’re losing your job, in the middle of a recession, can be devastating. But our Union Learning Reps made sure all the right mental health support was available to get staff through the worst of it.”

Sean worked closely with Wakefield Council’s health & wellbeing team to deliver courses, support groups, and provide the right resources for all of his members.

Next have worked with Unionlearn and Usdaw trade union to set up training centres at their Redhouse Doncaster and South Elmsall sites. The project delivers literacy and numeracy skills training to the whole workforce, improving lives and offering high quality jobs to local people.

An Assistant Site Manager at Next said of a recent ‘Writing Matters’ course set up by Unionlearn:

“This is without a doubt one of the best courses I have been on in my time at Next. Grammar and writing has always been a sticking point for me and no matter what I did, I felt I was never able to get any better.

“This course has been invaluable at supporting me with that and I finally feel confident in my ability to check my own work and send a grammatically correct email.”

Usdaw Regional Secretary, Joanne Thomas said union learning had made an “enormous contribution” to improving access to skills for workers in retail and warehousing across the region.

Fletchers Bakery in Sheffield employ 300 people, and have worked with Unionlearn and the BFAWU to provide skills courses on basic literacy, numeracy, as well as health & safety in the workplace.

Mick Neville, an employee at Fletchers who built his skills via the Unionlearn courses on offer at work, has risen to become the company site trainer. He said “Attending trade union courses that were provided to me free of charge as a BFAWU union member has undoubtedly assisted me in my role as site trainer at Fletchers.

“I have gained so much knowledge from these courses around workplace health and safety legislation and the educational needs and requirements of our employees.

“The knowledge I have gained now allows me to train our employees in a manner that enables and assists them in carrying out their daily roles in an efficient and confident way.”

Business recognises success

Tesco hailed the impact of these projects on improving the skills of its staff, saying “We have always been a supporter of Lifelong Learning, and the ‘Checkout Learning’ campaign that Tesco and Usdaw developed together 15 years ago has now benefited more than 43,000 learners.

“Usdaw and Union Learn are able to reach colleagues that other schemes would not”

Make UK North Region Director June Smith said “These are incredibly challenging times for manufacturers and their employees in Yorkshire. If we are going to build back better then the protection of key, high value skills within the sector is an absolute must.

“The Union Learning Fund is a key element of not just retaining people but also re-training them if necessary, especially in an era where digital skills are going to be ever more important.”

Mayor voices deep concerns

Mayor Dan Jarvis said “I am deeply concerned about the proposed cuts to the Union Learning Fund, which is a vitally important means of enabling workers to reskill throughout their working life.

“As Mayor, I am working hard to ensure that workers across South Yorkshire can access lifelong learning opportunities and the high-skilled jobs we are creating locally. As part of the South Yorkshire Devolution Deal, we have taken responsibility for the £36 million Adult Education Budget and our innovative ‘Working Win’ programme has helped 6,000 local people with mental and physical health conditions get into and stay in work.”

Union learning projects have supported workers across Yorkshire, including: DHL Castleford, Fox’s Biscuits Batley, Morrisons’ Wakefield, Pennine Foods Sheffield, Next Doncaster, and ADL Plaxton Buses Scarborough. It has also delivered IT skills training to students at Keighley College (case studies in notes to editors).

A local and national success story 

Union learning is a rare success story in adult learning. It’s open to both union members and non-members.  

Union learning reps get people on to courses who would not previously have considered learning, help them stick to the course and progress, and broker time-off with employers to train.  

This practical support is a “crucial help” that makes paper entitlements to free learning a reality for working adults who need to improve their skills.   

The independent review of the Union Learning Fund showed unions excel at supporting less confident learners, and at persuading those with few or no qualifications to take up the training opportunities open to them.

7 in 10 learners said they would not have taken part in learning or training without union support. This rises to around 8 in 10 of those with no prior qualifications.

Union learning helps get reluctant adult learners the basic skills they need to progress – and in many cases helps working people get their first ever qualifications. 

TUC Regional Secretary Bill Adams said:

“From basic skills to helping people learn English to retraining for the jobs of the future – union learning transforms lives.

“And it has made an enormous contribution in Yorkshire, offering invaluable support for typically hard-to-reach learners.

“Union learning is a local and national success story. Over the past 20 years, it has a fantastic track record of getting people back into learning and has helped millions gain qualifications – including here in Yorkshire.

“That’s why unions and business are urging government to rethink this decision and save union learning.”

ENDS