10,000 Usdaw members catch the learning bug

A campaign by trade union Usdaw to help workers return to learning - in many cases, changing their lives completely - has reached a major milestone after enrolling its 10,000th participant.

The statistic is all the more remarkable when taken in the context that Usdaw, the UK's fifth biggest union, only began its Lifelong Learning campaign six years ago. Learning projects are up-and-running in over 150 workplaces across the UK, many with designated learning centres.

The lives of many Usdaw members have been transformed by Lifelong Learning, including:

• Three warehouse workers, who left school with little-or-no qualifications and thinking they had missed out on education, are now studying on degree courses at university.

• A man who, for decades, concealed the fact that he could not write, has found new confidence and been able to write a birthday card to his wife for the first time.

• Countless numbers of members who had considered promotion unattainable have now achieved their personal ambition and have jobs with higher grades and responsibility.

Usdaw now has more than 450 Union Learning Reps (ULRs) trained up and actively promoting Lifelong Learning in workplaces across England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. Courses offered vary from workplace to workplace, depending on demand, but usually include maths, English and computing, or even foreign languages, sign language and floral art.

"Lifelong Learning has been one of Usdaw's big success stories in recent years," said John Hannett, Usdaw General Secretary. "Access to learning opportunities has changed the lives of thousands of our members. For some people, it has added further strings to their bow, while for others it has undoubtedly given them new confidence to go on and achieve their goals."

Through Lifelong Learning, Usdaw reps and officials work with employers and local colleges to set up affordable (often free) learning opportunities for workers. Courses may be carried out in the workplace, or employees may make use of facilities offered by the colleges on campus.

Notes to Editors

Case studies:

Usdaw has carried various articles on Lifelong Learning projects in its members' magazine Arena and on its web site. Journalists can access all of the articles online or contact Usdaw on 0161 249 2443/44 to receive articles by e-mail/fax.

Among the articles are features on (this is not an exhaustive list):

• Co-op - Manchester
• McVities - Manchester
• Argos - Widnes
• Reality/ShopDirect - Wigan
• Littlewoods - Oldham and Bolton
• Cavaghan & Gray - Carlisle
• Ethel Austin - various locations
• Coca-Cola - Northern Ireland
• Sundora - Pocklington, Yorkshire
• Lever Faberge - Leeds
• Grampian Foods - Malton, Yorkshire
• Cheviot Foods - Northumberland
• Safeway - Berwick
• Safeway - stores across Scotland
• Jeyes - Glasgow
• McVities - London
• Sainsburys - various stores in South West England
• Heinz - Okehampton
• Colour Care - Neath
• Boots Logistics - Nottingham

• Usdaw (the Union of Shop, Distributive and Allied Workers) is the UK’s fifth biggest trade union with over 339,000 members. Most Usdaw members are shopworkers, although the union does have many members in other trades including transport, distribution, call centres, home shopping, food manufacturing, dairy process, chemicals and pharmaceuticals.

• More information about the opportunities available are our Lifelong Learning section on the Usdaw web site.

• More information and news releases are available at our online Newsroom.

• Journalists can subscribe to receive Usdaw news releases via our online e-news service.

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© 2003 (USDAW) Union of Shop, Distributive and Allied Workers
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