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Network Journal 2007 Issue 6 Nov/Dec |
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Retail Trades Conference 2007: Check Out Learning
The success of the Check Out Learning (COL) campaign, part of the lifelong learning initiative, formed a large part of the two day conference.
Head of the education department James Rees led a session which explained what COL was all about and how the first stage of the campaign had progressed.
"This campaign will benefit individual members, the union and employers," he said. "It builds confidence, improves job prospects, raises the profile of the union, associates us with something positive and it gives employers a more motivated workforce with higher morale.
"The feedback we've had from our COL roadshows, which number more than 80, is that it has helped reps engage with management on a new issue which in turn has led to improved communications between our reps and the company."
A video showing how the campaign has progressed during the year was shown and a panel discussion followed with conference delegates invited to put their questions to John Hannett, Ann Murphy the national co-ordinator for lifelong learning, former academy organising officers Sandy Rowlands and Helen Grindley and learner rep Margaret Fleming.
North Eastern division's Julie Hansworth asked: "How long does it take to sort out courses for members?"
Ann Murphy replied: "Once the questionnaires have been completed these are then analysed to find out the demand and types of courses requested. This can take time and can be frustrating. In future we will have pre-arranged courses available to avoid the 'waiting gap'."
North West division's Nerys Griffiths-Suarez asked: "How are the stores chosen to host a roadshow event?"
Ann Murphy explained: "The criteria for choosing stores is as follows: It has to have more than 250 staff and have a reasonable number of union members. It also should have a good level of organisation in terms of a team of reps and a high Usdaw profile. However if anyone wants their store to be put on the list they should speak to their divisional office in the first instance."
John Hannett closed the session. "We will evaluate the success of the COL campaign and learn from the first phase," he said. "All credit to our teams of learner reps and project workers for all the hard work they've put in."
www.usdaw.org.uk/lifelong_learning
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