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ULRs meet the minister
TUC Congress round-up
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added that the Government was right to put faith in unions and invest in the Union Learning Fund. “And anyone who has any doubts about that only has to spend a few minutes with these and other ULRs to realise that,” she said. David Lammy said he was honoured to be at the reception: “These are the people on the ground that make a difference, that
Meeting the minister (clockwise from top left): Maria Silva; Ron Smith and Sue Hall; Ayub Patel; Frances O’Grady, Patrick McIlvogue, David Lammy, Billy Hayes and Liz Smith (below).
remind you about the personal stories and I think they need to be publicly acknowledged for the work they are doing,” he said. He said it was particularly poignant for him to have been offered the post of minister, after being raised by his mother when his father walked out. “She didn’t have basic skills and it was a shop steward who helped her help her family,” he recalled. “In the end, people trust people they know, who look and sound like them in the workplace: that’s what really affects people’s lives, someone nudging up next to them saying: ‘You can do this!’”
autumn 2007 «
Photos by Jess Hurd
LRs from up and down the country got the chance to talk about their experiences to newly-appointed Skills Minister David Lammy during a unionlearn reception at Congress. Unite – T&G section activists Ron Smith and Sue Hall were delighted to be able to talk to David about the highly successful programme they’ve run for hundreds of staff at the Arriva bus depot in Maidstone, Kent. UNISON’s Julie Robinson took the opportunity to invite the minister to open a learning centre at Stockton-on-Tees Borough Council – even though she’d only been a ULR at Tristar Homes since July. Maria Silva of the GMB told the minister about her highly successful work bringing learning to migrant workers at McVities in Carlisle, which she’s hoping to extend across the county. And Ayub Patel, USDAW ULR at UniChem, Preston, talked about the range of courses from ESOL to computer learning, numeracy and literacy which he and fellow ULRs have introduced to colleagues in a short space of time. Unionlearn Director Liz Smith
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