Skills Minister opens learning centre at Greenwich Boots

Minister for Skills, David Lammy, will officially open the new learning facilities at the Boots Distribution Centre in Greenwich with Usdaw General Secretary John Hannett at 10 am on Tuesday June 17th.

The Greenwich Centre is going to close in September 2009 as the company is concentrating distribution in a small number of centralised docking stations.

Boots and Union of Shop Distributive and Allied Workers (Usdaw) have worked together to agree a strategy for supporting workers affected by the closure. Key to this is a package which gives the highest possible priority to up skilling the workforce. It provides:

• Professional Information Advice and Guidance in work time for individuals to help to identify suitable training and employment opportunities in the local area.
• Opportunities to gain a recognised national qualification to help staff find another job or change career.
• Up to £300 per person to put towards vocational training cost.
• Flexibility in rearranging working hours to accommodate training and company time off for staff to improve their English and Maths skills.

Usdaw has appointed five Union Learning Representatives to work with the company at Greenwich and to provide advice and information for staff. Management and Usdaw have worked closely with local colleges and other agencies to provide learning and career advice.

The company has agreed to set up a range of learning facilities in the Greenwich site including a fully equipped learning centre, a reading room with library and a re-deployment hub where staff can get career advice and local job information.

So far over half the staff have begun learning in Maths, English, Computing and a range of vocational subjects. Some have already attained a nationally recognised qualification.

John Hannett Usdaw General Secretary said “Learning is vital for our members’ future and this shows the importance of the work our Union Learning Representatives do with members. The success of the Learning Centre at Boots is built on working together in a joint learning committee and it highlights how you can get the best deal for everybody by working together – even in a challenging situation like redundancy.”

Di Gallagher, the Distribution Centre Manager, said:

“Having three years notice of closure has enabled us to bring together the support and commitment of numerous organisations and individuals to create an environment of learning here at Greenwich Distribution Centre. This is helping to equip our colleagues with the necessary skills for life outside of Boots or to continue their chosen career within our company.”

Notes to Editors:

• Contacts for newsdesks: Usdaw’s Media Officer, Cherry Hamilton, can be contacted on 0161 249 2469 or e-mail cherry.hamilton@usdaw.org.uk
• Usdaw (the Union of Shop, Distributive and Allied Workers) is the UK’s fourth biggest trade union, with over 359,000 members. Most Usdaw members work in the retail sector, but the union also has many members in transport, distribution, food manufacturing, chemicals and other trades.
• More information and news releases are available at our online Newsroom.
• Subscribe/unsubscribe to Usdaw news releases via our online e-news service at: http://www.usdaw.org.uk/site/email.html

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