GMB @ Dorset Adult Learners Week
GMB attended a recent event at Dorset County Council which was scheduled to promote Adult Learning.
Paul Simmonds from the GMB Southern region learning project attended and provided us with the below report:
This learning event took place on Monday 16th May 2016 with staff at County Hall Dorset to celebrate Adult Learners’ Week and was supported by Sarah Pattison, GMB Convenor and Ross Murdoch, GMB Regional Organiser.
Key aims and objectives of running the event were to develop the GMB and link union learning to union organising. The importance of this type of activity provides the opportunity to not only have a visible GMB presence but to access and engage with members/non members and to raise the profile of the union and added value of learning.
Staff who attended the stand were provided with information, advice and guidance on both learning opportunities and the benefits of GMB membership. There was plenty of supportive information, resources and merchandise on show and available to take away.
As a result of the day there was a lot of interest shown in distance learning and apprenticeships as well as several people enquiring about joining the union and taking away application forms. Pete Brown, GMB rep, Dorset Waste Partnership is keen to promote learning with colleagues at the depot in Weymouth and intends to liaise with Sarah and I in due course.
Helen Sutherland, Head of training and Alison Crochett, Principal HR responsible for apprenticeships discussed their particular interest in working with us in the delivery of apprenticeships i.e. in care, team leading, business and administration and cleaning and support services. I provided supportive leaflets in this respect and we agreed to have a further meeting to discuss this in more detail.
Sarah also provided me with a copy of the current learning agreement, which we intend to use and work together to identify learning needs and common issues and use learning as a driver to recruit, organise, grow and build the union.
