learning rep team and last year overseeing the move of the learning zone to a better position on the site. Her dedication has led to a huge surge in learner numbers: more than half of the 300 staff on site have taken courses, between them accessing 1,300-plus learning opportunities since 2010. “Monika does an incredible job for her members: she makes coming to the learning zone comfortable, fun and accessible, removing any barriers for staff,” says USDAW National Lifelong Learning Coordinator Martyn Warwick.
Vince Cable is coming to conference Business Secretary Vince Cable is a guest speaker at unionlearn’s annual conference, which takes place on Monday 28 October at Congress House in London. This year’s theme is Skills for Growth, with a broad agenda focusing on meeting the needs of the modern workforce through workplace and community learning. As well as looking forward to the year ahead, the conference is a chance to celebrate our work over the past 12 months and we will be marking the achievements of several projects with our Quality Awards. Other speakers include TUC General Secretary Frances O’Grady,
UK Commission for Employment and Skills (UKCES) Chair Charlie Mayfield and former professional footballer Paul Mortimer. Workshops will cover a range of topics from apprenticeships and traineeships to numeracy and technician pathways. For more information and booking details, call Yusuf Dadabhoy on 020 7079 6944 • Click here for email enquiries
Farewell to an inspiring leader One of the key union voices on skills in the Midlands for over a decade as well as a lifelong feminist and peace campaigner, Mary Alys died in May, a year after being diagnosed with cancer. At the helm first of Midlands TUC Learning Services and then of Midlands unionlearn, Mary provided 12 years of continuous leadership that helped ensure the organisation became highly regarded across the region. Softly spoken but wholly committed to enhancing the life opportunities of working people, Mary battled to keep equality on union agendas and ensure people from disadvantaged backgrounds were truly represented and had their voices heard. She tirelessly campaigned against gender segregation on apprenticeships, and for 25 years fought to ensure English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL)
learning gained the higher profile that it deserved. “Mary was an inspirational leader who had a positive impact on all those that she came into contact with,” commented the Midlands unionlearn team. “She will be missed by all of us for her massive contribution to ensuring that the working people of the Midlands, whenever possible, got the best opportunities to develop their knowledge and their skills and enhance their life opportunities. “She will also be greatly missed by her team, whom she supported so passionately to become the best that they could be.” A political campaigner who was also heavily involved in the women’s and peace movements, Mary was a member of the Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom for more than 30 years, serving as vice-president in 2011–12. Since Mary was deeply affected by her visit to the Panama School in Nicaragua in 2011, money raised in her name will be used to help set up a bakery to help local women and youngsters – a prospect she would have been thrilled about. Just days before she died, Mary was able to complete her book, Calling Time On Women’s Wasted Potential, which examines how history has shaped women’s home and working lives and offers practical solutions to overcome the barriers to their fulfilment. She also set up the Mary
Alys Trust as a legacy to fund projects helping children and young people work on peace, reconciliation, justice and equity issues. • Click here to find out more or to donate to the work
REPTECH Supporting learners on your smartphone ULRs can offer support to their members with a few taps on a smartphone, now that unionlearn’s Climbing Frame app is available on both the Apple and Android platforms. The new resource will prove a boon for learning reps who find it hard to access the main Climbing Frame website because they are restricted in their online access at work or don’t use computers as part of their regular job. Unionlearn developed the new app after a survey revealed 60 per cent of respondents would use it to help them support learners. “I have just downloaded this app, and it seems fantastic. Thanks so much for developing this, as I am sure it is going to be really useful to ULRs,” said ULF Project Worker Karen Reed. • Download the app here
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