CORE SKILLS / PASSPORT COURSES
The Organising Steward | top | calendar | apply
If you are a new steward then this is an essential course for you. This course looks at what the roles of the steward are and gives you the skills, knowledge and understanding to carry out these roles such as, recruiting members and involving them in the union and how to work with members to tackle problems at work. This courses covers:
- Recruiting members;
- Keeping members informed;
- How to raise issues in UNISON;
- Proportionality and fair representation;
- Interviewing members;
- Understanding your grievance and disciplinary procedures.
This course should be the starting point of your training. You should also consider other courses at this level (Core Skills/Passport Courses) and refer to your Steward’s Passport for more information. You might also wish to look at the Equal Opportunities and Self-organised Groups section of this programme. When you have completed this course stewards will be issued with ERA credentials.
- Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday 3,4,5,6 March 2008
Closing date for applications: Friday 1 February 2008 - Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday 14,15,16,17 July 2008
Closing date for applications: Friday 13 June 2008 - Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday 15,16,17,18 September 2008
Closing date for applications: Friday 15 August 2008 - Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday 3,4,5,6 November 2008
Closing date for applications: Friday 3 October 2008
All 4 courses include 3 nights residential and will be at Northern College, Barnsley
Note: Participants can attend on a Day Delegate basis (no accommodation) but there will be no reduction in cost to Branches.
Cost to Branches: £100
Developing Representation Skills | top | calendar | apply
This is a two day course aimed at people who have some experience of helping to prepare a disciplinary case for members. We use a video case study to help develop the skills of advocacy and cross-examination in disciplinary hearings. This course looks at when do we and when don’t we represent members. How do we get all the information we need from a member. How do we make use of procedures.
Please note: You may only attend this course if you have already done the UNISON Organising Steward course, or the TUC equivalent (stage 1). This course is suitable for those stewards who need to attend a refresher course.
- Monday, Tuesday 28,29 January 2008
Closing date for applications: Monday 7 January 2008 - Monday, Tuesday 21,22 April 2008
Closing date for applications: Monday 31 March 2008 - Thursday, Friday 9,10 October 2008
Closing date for applications: Monday 15 September 2008
All 3 courses are non-residential and will be held at UNISON Regional Centre, Commerce House, Leeds
Cost to Branches: £40
Basic Negotiating Skills for Representatives | top | calendar | apply
This course is aimed at all activists and will equip you for negotiating with managers at a local level. The course looks at:
- Understanding the process of negotiating;
- Becoming familiar with different styles of negotiating;
- Working effectively as part of a negotiating team;
- Understanding how to prepare, present and negotiate on an issue;
- Developing and practising negotiating skills.
- Date: Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday 10,11,12,13 March 2008
Closing date for applications: Friday 8 February 2008
Please note: You may only attend this course if you have already done the Organising Steward course, or the Introduction to Health and Safety course, or the TUC equivalent (stage 1)
Cost to Branches: £100
Negotiating Time Off for Trade Union Duties | top | calendar | apply
This course covers the same issues as the “Basic Negotiating Skills for Stewards” (see above) but will focus on how to negotiate getting time off for trade union duties.
- Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday 14, 15,16,17 April 2008
Closing date for applications: Friday 14 March 2008
This courses includes 3 nights residential and will be at Northern College, Barnsley. Note: Participants can attend on a Day Delegate basis (no accommodation) but there will be no reduction in cost to Branches.
Please note: You may only attend this course if you have already done the Organising Steward course, or the Introduction to Health and Safety course, or the TUC equivalent (stage 1).
Cost to Branches: £100
Negotiating a Learning Agreement | top | calendar | apply
Although this course covers the same issues as the “Basic Negotiating Skills for Stewards” it is aimed at Branch Education Co-ordinators, Lifelong Learning Co-ordinators, ULR’s or any activist who wishes to negotiate a learning agreement with their employer.
The course looks at:
- Understanding the process of negotiating;
- Becoming familiar with different styles of negotiating;
- Working effectively as part of a negotiating team;
- Understanding how to prepare, present and negotiate on an issue;
- Developing and practising negotiating skills.
- Date: Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday 20,21,22,23 October 2008
Closing date for applications: Friday 19 September 2008
This course includes 3 nights residential and will be at Northern College, Barnsley Note: Participants can attend on a Day Delegate basis (no accommodation) but there will be no reduction in cost to Branches.
Please note: You may only attend this course if you have already done the Organising
Steward course, or the Introduction to Health and Safety course, or the TUC equivalent (stage 1)
Cost to Branches: £100
Confidence Skills for Activists | top | calendar | apply
This course is aimed at Stewards, ULR’s and Health & Safety reps. It will help you develop the communication skills you need to do your job as an activist.
- Do you worry about speaking to managers?
- Are you sometimes lost for words at a meeting?
- Don’t know how to face an angry member or manager?
- Don’t know the most effective way to put your thoughts into words?
This course is aimed to reverse this situation and you should go away with the skills you need to become a more confident person and activist. You should be able to represent yourself and members more effectively.
- Monday 18 February 2008
Closing date for applications: Monday 28 January 2008 - Monday 28 April 2008
Closing date for applications: Monday 7 April 2008 - Thursday 10 July 2008
Closing date for applications: Friday 20 June 2008 - Monday 24 November 2008
Closing date for applications: Monday 3 November 2008
Courses are non-residential and will be held at UNISON Regional Centre, Commerce House, Leeds.
Cost to Branches: £20
Introduction to Health and Safety | top | calendar | apply
This course is essential for new Health and Safety representatives or for those Health and Safety representatives who have more experience but who haven’t yet had the chance to go on this course. This is a three-day course, which will give you the knowledge and confidence to look at:-
- What is the job of a health and safety representative?
- What rights do you have as a health and safety representative?
- How do you interview a member?
- How do you start to prepare a case?
- How do you go about dealing with Health and Safety problems?
- How do you carry out a Health and Safety inspection?
- Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday 18,19,20 February 2008
Closing date for applications: Friday 18 January 2008 - Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday 9,10,11 June 2008
Closing date for applications: Friday 9 May 2008 - Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday 29,30 September, 1 October 2008
Closing date for applications: Friday 29 August 2008 - Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday 1,2,3 December 2008
Closing date for applications: Friday 31 October 2008
All 4 courses include 2 nights residential and will be at Northern College, Barnsley. Note: Participants can attend on a Day Delegate basis (no accommodation) but there will be no reduction in cost to branches.
Cost to Branches: £75
Understanding Women’s Health & Safety | top | calendar | apply
This course is aimed at all health and safety representatives (men and women), as it will help them to know more about the specific health and safety implications for women in the workplace. It will help you:
- Be clear about health and safety issues and their effect on women in the
workplace; - Have greater awareness of women’s specific health and safety issues;
- Be able to complete risk assessments for pregnant women and new mothers in
the workplace; - Have more confidence in negotiating with management for specific workplace
improvements/policies.
- Monday, Tuesday 12,13 May 2008
Closing date for applications: Friday 11 April 2008 - Thursday, Friday 11,12 September 2008
Closing date for applications: Monday 11 August 2008 - Monday, Tuesday 15,16 December 2008
Closing date for applications: Friday 14 November 2008
All 3 courses include 1 night residential and will be at Northern College, Barnsley. Note: Participants can attend on a Day Delegate basis (no accommodation) but there will be no reduction in cost to branches.
Cost to Branches: £50
Please note: You may only attend this course if you have already done the Introduction to Health and Safety course, or the TUC equivalent (stage 1).
UNISON Learning Representative | top | calendar | apply
5 Day Open College Accredited Course.
This course is intended to provide training in the role of the Union Learning Rep. Are you interested in encouraging learning in your workplace? If yes, you could be a Union Learning Rep and help to change people’s lives. Once you have been nominated as a Learning Rep by your Branch, the next step is to attend a Learning Rep’s course. The role of the Learning Rep is to promote UNISON’S Lifelong Learning Agenda and to encourage non-traditional learners in the workplace to enter into learning opportunities both in the workplace and wider community.
The Employment Act 2002 gave Union Learning Reps paid release to train and carry out duties in the same way as Stewards and Health & Safety officers. If you would like to find out more, talk to your Branch Education Co-ordinator, or Regional Learning and Development Officer.
PLEASE NOTE THIS 5 DAY COURSE IS SPLIT INTO ONE 3 DAY AND ONE 2 DAY SECTION.
BOTH SECTIONS SHOULD BE COMPLETED.
- Course 1 Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday 19,20,21 February 2008
Plus Monday, Tuesday 10,11 March 2008
Closing date for applications: Monday 28 January 2008 - Course 2 Wednesday, Thursday, Friday 14,15,16 May 2008
Plus Tuesday, Wednesday 1,2 July 2008
Closing date for applications: Monday 21 April 2008 - Course 3 Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday 22,23,24 September 2008
Plus Monday, Tuesday 20,21 October 2008
Closing date for applications: Monday 1 September 2008
All 3 courses are non-residential and held at UNISON Regional Centre, Commerce House, Leeds. There is currently national funding available for the February course. For courses later in the year the cost will be £100 per course unless we can secure further funding. Please telephone the Education Administration for further advice.
2nd stage training for trained Learning Reps | top | calendar | apply
There are five 2 day Open College Accredited Courses on offer to trained Learning Reps.
Dyslexia in the Workplace
This will assist you in your role by providing an improved understanding of dyslexia and how it affects people in the workplace.
Date: Thursday, Friday 24-25 April 2008
Closing date for applications: Monday 31 March 2008
Learning in the Local Government Sector
This is aimed at all ULR’s covered by the NJC agreement, and covers building a learning branch around the national agreement on workforce development.
Date: Monday, Tuesday 17-18 November 2008
Closing date for applications: Monday 27 October 2008
Skills for Life in the Workplace
This will assist you in your role and will give you a greater understanding of the skills in promoting Skills for Life (language, literacy and numeracy) in the workplace and how to help members access opportunities to improve these skills.
Learning in the NHS and the Knowledge and Skills Framework (KSF)
This course is for Learner Reps employed in the NHS only and will complement other activist training courses on the KSF which aim to enable branches to plan their response to the KSF and to enable Learning Reps and members to participate effectively in the development review process.
Information, Advice and Guidance
This will assist you in building on the skills gained on the UNISON Learning Representative course by focusing on the delivery of Information, Advice and Guidance (IAG) in the workplace.
There are no fixed dates for Skills for Life in the Workplace, Learning in the NHS and the Knowledge and Skills Framework (KSF) and Information, Advice and Guidance, however, if you are interested in these 3 courses please contact Sultan Mahmood, the Regional Learning
and Development Organiser.
All 5 courses are non-residential and will be held at UNISON Regional Centre, Commerce House, Leeds
We are awaiting confirmation as to whether further funding is available to offer these courses at no cost to Branches. Please contact the Education Administrator for further advice.
RUNNING THE BRANCH
These courses are designed for Branch Officials and Committee Members who have taken on responsibilities at Branch level (as compared with the workplace responsibilities of stewards and safety reps). The courses will help develop the knowledge and skills needed for different
Branch roles, and will put them in the context of the organising approach. These courses are run jointly with the Northern Region and this year the courses will all be held in the Northern Region.
Branch Officer Courses | top | calendar | apply
Branch Secretary
Aimed at new Branch Secretaries or those who haven’t attended training for some time. This course will help with the organising and administration part of the job. It will focus on building the Branch around the organising model.
Branch Treasurer
This course is for all new Branch Treasurers – to help with the ‘technical’ side of the job, i.e. financial returns, book keeping, cash control, etc., all essential skills if the money is to be there to work for the Branch.
Equalities in your Branch
Open to all Branch Equalities Officers and Branch Officers for Self Organised Groups, this course will look at the role of the Equalities Officer, how to organise for equalities in Branches. It will also look at equalities as a bargaining and campaigning issue.
Branch Education Co-ordinator
Good education within the Branch is vital for making local organisation work. This course is for Branch Education Officers and will look at how to identify your Branch education needs, how to budget for education and how to encourage and support representatives in training.
Chairing Meetings
The course is aimed at anyone who has to chair a formal trade union meeting, whether it be Branch meeting, Branch committee, Working Group or Self Organised Group. Find out how to practise the skills needed to run a meeting so as to be fair to all participants. This is
suitable for all activists but especially Branch Chairs.
Health and Safety Officer
This course covers the strategic role of organising Health and Safety reps and members around health and safety issues. It is not suitable for Health and Safety representatives who have no training or have just been trained. The course will look at the role of safety reps and
the Branch, investigating hazards and members’ complaints, agreements with the employer and future planning.
Communications Officer
This course is mainly for those Branch activists who are already, or who wish to become involved in Branch publicity, producing leaflets, newsletters and Branch magazines. The coursewill be practical-based drawing on the skills of UNISON’S publicity department. It will cover
writing copy, headlines and captions, using photographs and cartoons and how to use layout to the best effect to produce finished newsletters using computers and modern technology.
Labour Link Officer
This course is intended to equip Labour Link Officers with the tools they need to undertake their role. The aims of the course are:
To understand why politics are important in the branch;
To develop skills to encourage interest in political activity in the branch;
To understand and respond to issues about Labour Link;
To understand Labour Link procedures;
To develop effective skills around campaigning.
Lifelong Learning Co-ordinator
This course will give Branch Lifelong Learning Co-ordinators the skills they need to carry out their role. The course will focus on:
How to organise around learning;
How to co-ordinate the activities of ULR’s within the branch;
How to ensure learning is linked into the branch’s organising, bargaining and equalities work.
Branch International Officer
This course will examine in detail the role and function of Branch International Officers and how we can make “international solidarity” a reality not just a slogan. The course will look at UNISON’s international priorities, the effect of globalisation on developing countries and how
branch-based activities can make a difference.
All the above Branch Officer courses will take place on the following date:
- Friday, Saturday, Sunday 16,17,18 May 2008
Closing date for applications: Friday 25 April 2008
Branch Officer courses are 2 night residential and will be held at the Thistle Hotel, Middlesbrough. NOTE: Please write the specific Course Title on your application (eg. Branch Chair)
Cost to Branches: £100
Welfare Officers
Nationally it has been agreed that a programme of 5 courses will be delivered across the country. The national LAOS based at Mabledon Place, London will act as a clearing house for applications and then pass course groups details to the host region for processing. An initial
two-day residential course on Systems, Procedures and Communication Skills (BWO Training Parts 1 & 2) will enable BWOs to:
- Understand their role and the confidentiality it involves
- Understand the UNISON Welfare charity and the application process
- Understand the importance of promoting and publicising UNISON Welfare
- Identify different communication styles and practice active listening
- Help a member feel at ease and gather sensitive information from them
- Handle problems in an assetive manner.
A one day course on Promotion Publicity and Influence (BWO Training Pt 3) will follow to enable BWOs to:
- Review their work
- Develop influencing skills
- Promote Welfare to managers and as part of recruitment drives
- Practice presentation skills
- Dates: Modules 1 & 2: Wednesday, Thursday 2, 3 April 2008
Closing date for applications: Wednesday 27 February 2008
Module 3: Thursday 2 October
Closing date for applications: Friday 22 August 2008
Cost to Branches: £80 per course place for the two day course £40 per course place for theone day course
Please note: You must have completed modules 1 & 2 before doing module 3. Both courses will be held in Newcastle. Accommodation, travel and care costs will be paid nationally. For an application form visit: www.unison.org.uk/acrobat/B3049.pdf or contact UNISON Learning & Organising Services, 1 Mabledon Place, London, WC1H 9AJ. Tel: 020 7551 1116
Team Building | top | calendar | apply
This course is a second part, follow-up to the Branch Officers course and will examine teamwork in the Branch. The aim of the course, which will include a number of practical
sessions, is to look at:-
- Working together on union problems and policies;
- Finding out about the roles of other Branch Officers;
- Practising working with other Branch Officers;
- Reviewing Branch arrangements for effective working.
Date and Venue to be advertised separately at Branch Officer courses and via Branch mailing.
Cost to Branches: £100
EQUAL OPPORTUNITIES AND SELF ORGANISATION (including Women Only courses)
The region will provide a rolling programme of training courses for all members of self organised groups. These courses will give members the skills, knowledge and understanding that they need to participate fully in the work of the self organisded groups at regional and branch level.
The skills gained on these courses will be transferable to the workplace, the local community and the wider union. Members of each self organised group are encouraged to attend all the courses which make up this programme over a period of several years. Two courses will be offered each year and will be repeated every third year. This year we are offering:-
Organising and Campaigning Around Environmental Issues | top | calendar | apply
How to move from the global to the local, the individual and the collective, with a specific focus on trade union campaigning.
- Date: Saturday, Sunday 5, 6 April 2008
Closing date for applications: Friday 14 March 2008
This course includes 1 night residential in Leeds and the course will be held at UNISON Regional Centre, Commerce House, Leeds.
Cost to Branches: £70
A SOG members route through the Union! | top | calendar | apply
(Plus how to write conference motions and speeches)
A vibrant and active session showing how and where decisions are made in UNISON. How to influence policy and have your say. How to make UNISON structures work for you and find your way through the maze that is UNISON. How to structure and write a motion so that it can be discussed at a conference or meeting. How to write an effective conference speech.
- Saturday, Sunday 13, 14 September 2008
Closing date for applications: Friday 22 August 2008
This course includes 1 night residential in Leeds and the course will be held at UNISON Regional Centre, Commerce House, Leeds.
Cost to Branches: £70
Women only:
Organising & Campaigning Around Women’s Environmental Issues | top | calendar | apply
How to move from the global to the local, the individual and the collective, with a specificfocus on trade union campaigning.
- Saturday, Sunday 26, 27 April 2008
Closing date for applications: Friday 4 April 2008
This course includes 1 night residential in Leeds and the course will be held at UNISON
Regional Centre, Commerce House, Leeds.
Cost to branches: £70
Women only:
Women’s Assertiveness | top | calendar | apply
Assertiveness training offers a means of learning an invaluable set of communication skills, which helps us to express our opinions, needs and feelings, honestly and directly. The philosophy behind assertiveness training is expressly non-competitive and great care is taken to enable each participant to strengthen their self-esteem and prevent themselves being manipulated or exploited. The course covers:
- Assertive skills
- Dealing with anger
- Body language
- Making/Refusing requests
- Learning to say No
- Constructive criticism
This is a fun and practical weekend, which will increase your self-esteem; this then allows you to deal with problems both at work and in your private life.
- Friday, Saturday, Sunday 7,8,9 March 2008
Closing date for applications: Friday 15 February 2008 - Friday, Saturday, Sunday 5,6,7 December 2008
Closing date for applications: Friday 14 November 2008
These courses include 2 nights residential in Leeds and the courses will be held at UNISON Regional Centre, Commerce House, Leeds
Cost to Branches: £100
Women only:
Communicating with Confidence for Women | top | calendar | apply
This course is open to any woman member who wants to increase her confidence around her communication skills. The aim of this course is for women to learn how to communicate effectively. This is a fun and practical course with very little written work, it focuses on spoken rather than written communication. Working in small informal groups and pairs, women look at what gets in the way of communicating effectively and they spend the weekend practising effective and confident ways of communicating.
This course is designed as a starting point for women who have attended little or no UNISON training. After doing this course women may choose to attend Women’s Assertiveness; Public Speaking with Confidence. Some women go on to become stewards and activists.
- Friday, Saturday, Sunday 7,8,9 November 2008
Closing date for applications: Friday 17 October 2008
This course includes 2 nights residential in Leeds and the course will be held at UNISON Regional Centre, Commerce House, Leeds
Cost to Branches: £100
Women only:
Women’s Health Day | top | calendar | apply
The day will look at health issues that affect women. In previous years we have looked at homeopathy, stress, menopause, healthy eating, yoga, osteoporosis, ovarian cancer, stress as it affects trade unionists. Everyone who has attended this day in the past has said that
they have had fun and appreciate the opportunities to meet other UNISON women from the Region. It’s a very informal and relaxing day - so why not come along and enjoy a laugh.
- Saturday 27 September 2008
Closing date for applications: Friday 5 September 2008
Cost to Branches: £25
Venue: To be confirmed but will be a hotel in Leeds.
NEGOTIATING WITH YOUR EMPLOYERS AND CASEWORK SKILLS
Employment Law Courses | top | calendar | apply
These courses are aimed at stewards or branch officials and will give an overview of specific areas of employment law. They will look at what the law actually says and how it may be applied. There are 4 one day courses – you can either do all 4 days or pick the day or days to suit your
interest.
- Introduction to Employment Law
- Introduction to Contracts of Employment
- Work Life Balance
- Disability Discrimination Act
These courses will give a basic grounding in those areas of employment law and will help you
to identify possible legal cases, which may be run in conjunction with the region.
- Introduction to Employment Law: Tuesday 22 January 2008
Closing date for applications: Monday 31 December 2007 - Introduction to Contracts of Employment: Wednesday 23 January 2008
Closing date for applications: Monday 31 December 2007 - Work Life Balance: Monday 6 October 2008
Closing date for applications: Friday 12 September 2008 - Disability Discrimination Act: Tuesday 7 October 2008
Closing date for applications: Friday 12 September 2008
All courses are non-residential and will be held at UNISON Regional Centre, Commerce House, Leeds
Cost to Branches: £20 per course
Discrimination at work | top | calendar | apply
This two day course looks at how to identify potential discrimination on the grounds of race, sex or disability and how to deal with the issues. It covers how to identify a possible legal case, plus how to work with the member and the region to deal with such cases. This course does not equip activists to prepare or run discrimination courses themselves.
- Monday, Tuesday 8, 9 September 2008
Closing date for applications: Friday 15 August 2008
This course is non-residential and will be held at UNISON Regional Centre, Commerce House, Leeds
Cost to Branches: £40
Bullying and Harassment in the Workplace | top | calendar | apply
This course is for stewards and activists who wish to be able to identify possible cases of bullying and harassment within the workplace. The course will cover how to identify cases, how to deal with them in the workplace, how to negotiate with your employer around this issue, what are the key aspects of effective policies and procedures for dealing with this issue.
This course is not designed to examine or deal with individual cases of bullying or harassment which members may have experienced.
- Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday 6,7,8 October 2008
Closing date for applications: Friday 5 September 2008
This course includes 2 nights residential and will be at Northern College, Barnsley. Note: Participants can attend on a Day Delegate basis (no accommodation) but there will be no reduction in cost to Branches.
Cost to Branches: £75
Introduction to Equal Pay | top | calendar | apply
This course is aimed at stewards and UNISON branch officers who have attended other stewards training. The course does not assume any knowledge of equal pay law in participants; it is as described, an introduction to equal pay, which focuses on using equal pay in negotiations. This course would be a useful starting point for activists who are preparing to negotiate around job evaluation. This course aims to give an introduction to:
- The gender pay gap
- UNISON’s Equal Pay strategy
- Equal pay as a negotiating issue
- Equal pay reviews and audits
- The link between equal pay and job evaluation
- The concepts of like work, work rated as equivalent and equal value
- Preparing for a negotiation on equal pay
- UNISON’s experience of taking equal pay cases
- Thursday, Friday 28, 29 February 2008
Closing date for applications: Friday 8 February 2008
- Wednesday, Thursday 7, 8 May 2008
Closing date for applications: Monday 14 April 2008
- Monday, Tuesday 8, 9 December 2008
Closing date for applications: Friday 14 November 2008
This course is non-residential and will be held at UNISON Regional Centre, Commerce House, Leeds
Cost to Branches: £40
DEVELOPING YOUR SKILLS
Public Speaking with Confidence | top | calendar | apply
This course is aimed at anyone who will have to speak to groups of people whether they be small or large groups and whether they be in the workplace, in the Branch or at larger meetings. There are many occasions in UNISON when these skills may be needed. This course aims to
give you the chance to develop and practise these skills in a friendly supportive atmosphere. The course will include:-
- Speaking in a trade union context;
- Preparing a talk or speech;
- How to deliver a speech;
- Ways to control nerves;
- How to deliver a speech confidently.
- Monday, Tuesday 10,11 November 2008
Closing date for applications: Friday 17 October 2008
This course is non-residential and will be held at UNISON Regional Centre, Commerce House, Leeds
Cost to Branches: £40
One to One Recruitment | top | calendar | apply
This course is aimed at new and established Stewards. It will be a practical course aimed at providing Stewards with the skills necessary for the on-going process of recruiting members.
- Date: Tuesday 8 April 2008
Closing date for applications: Monday 24 March 2008
This course is non-residential and will be held at UNISON Regional Centre, Commerce House, Leeds
Cost to Branches: £20
Be a UNISON Lay Tutor Stage 1 | top | calendar | apply
The UNISON tutor training programme is open to all UNISON members. You don’t have to have any educational qualifications, but you do need to be enthusiastic about new methods for getting members involved and organised in your Branch. If you want to be, or are already involved and organising and tutoring on trade union education courses at Branch or Regional level then this is the course for you. The course will look at understanding and using various educational methods, organising workshops and courses, writing and using various educational activities and planning and designing a one day workshop. Prior experience of tutoring or running groups can be helpful. This is an accredited course that will involve some assessment work. All UNISON lay tutors are required to attend an Equalities Awareness course which will be arranged
separately.
Date: To be arranged, however if you are interested in attending this course please submit an authorised application form and further details will be sent to you.
This course includes 4 nights residential and will be held in Leeds.
Cost to Branches: £200 (this course is run jointly with the North West Region)
Pre-Conference Training | top | calendar | apply
This half-day briefing is a must for new or inexperienced delegates to National Delegate Conference. You will learn how to deal with the Conference agenda papers, the fringe meetings and how to get there. This briefing will give you a chance to meet with other new delegates and it will be run by Cliff Williams Regional Secretary; the Regional Convenor and a member of the Conference Team.
Applications are NOT via the Education Administrator but all new delegates will be contacted directly and invited to attend once their registration has been processed by the region.
BRANCH DEVELOPMENT
Organising around the Equality Duty | top | calendar | apply
The Government has introduced public sector duties to meet the challenge of ensuring race and disability equality (December 2006), and has done the same in respect of equality between men and women - the gender duty. All three duties were effective by April 2007. The gender duty in particular requires that employers consult with trade unions, rather than “employees” or “staff”, and therefore the new duties offer a significant opportunity to draw equalities into the mainstream of UNISON, to increase membership participation and to improve our organisation.
This course will identify how to use the equality duty to organise within the branch, and how to encourage black members, members with disabilities and women members to become more active in the branch.
- Tuesday 4 March 2008
Closing date for applications: Monday 18 February 2008
This course is non-residential and will be held at UNISON Regional Centre, Commerce House, Leeds
Cost to Branches: £20
Organising around Race Equality (focusing on ‘Black History Month’) | top | calendar | apply
This session will encourage branches to identify and examine key race equality issues at the branch and workplace level. The course will be based around the ‘organising around race equality module’ and will focus on how to arrange an event within the branch to celebrate
‘Black History Month’ which falls in October. The session will focus on:
- How to plan to encourage more black activists to get involved in the branch;
- How to analyse the results of employer monitoring under the Race Relations Amendment Act and identify any issues arising from this.
- Monday 7 July 2008
Closing date for applications: Friday 13 June 2008
This course is non-residential and will be held at UNISON Regional Centre, Commerce House, Leeds
Cost to Branches: £20
