Union Learning Fund

THE grand opening of the new rail union-backed Brighton Learning Centre proved a great success. There was an impressive turnout, with over 100 people coming along to celebrate the launch of the exciting new initiative for rail workers, their friends and family. Those attending ranged from the mayor of Brighton and Hove, local councillors, HR directors from Thameslink, Network Rail, and Southern, several members of the TUC and representatives from local colleges, as well as a good mix of learners, union learning representatives, local reps and branch secretaries. “Everyone agreed that the evening was a fantastic opportunity to meet all those involved in the Brighton Learning Centre project,” said Project manager, Scarlet Harris. Those attending the launch had a chance to see the new equipment, including 15 new laptops. RMT member and ticket collector Terry Springett, who has first-hand experience of the benefits of learning, said that course tutors were fundamental to a good learning experience and they in turn complimented the centre’s resources as essential to providing a positive learning experience. Centre administrator Emily King said that it was great to see the centre looking lively and full of people. “The next step is to embark on our timetable for the New Year which includes free courses in Spanish and other foreign languages, IT for people at various levels, English and maths. “We are also running a deaf awareness course alongside more diverse subjects such as Genealogy,” she said. Anyone who is interested in enrolling on a course at Brighton Learning Centre, or would like more information on activities should contact Emily King on 01273 723 066 or email emilyking@rul.org.uk. RMT news – Essential reading for today ’s transport worker Brighton Learning Centre success RMT member Bob Small has won nearly £5,000 in back pay after a long-running battle over sick-pay entitlement was finally settled by the union. Several members working for Lynx Express have been having problems with their sick pay entitlement. Bob’s case was a particularly bad one. A member of 17 years standing who works at the Lynx depot at Eastleigh, Bob, was long-term sick from October 2003 until August 2004. He was paid only statutory sick pay by the company, when his full entitlement was 130 days at full basic pay and 130 day at half pay. Bob attempted to resolve this situation through his local rep, but due to the intransigence of the local management, he was denied his proper sick pay. The local rep, to his credit, would not let this drop and referred the matter directly to the general secretary who took the matter up with the company at national level. After several months of correspondence it is pleasing to report that the company has conceded the sick pay agreement had been broken by the branch manager and agreed to pay Bob his full entitlement. RMT has just had confir- mation that Bob has received £4882.50 in back pay, a significant victory. OPEN FOR BUSINESS: Training and Development Manager Southern Lawrence Cramer, Ticket collector Terry Springett and centre administrator Emily King. Sick-pay victory at Lynx Learning centre gets helping hand UNION Learning Rep and Southern Railways employee Iain Brown (right) has been seconded for two days a week to help to promote the RMT-backed Brighton Learning Centre. Iain’s secondment is being paid for by the TUC and the local Learning and Skills Council. Iain has been a union learning rep for three and a half years. He got involved when Southern took over from Connex and introduced assessments. “The assessments showed that there was a lot of need for education on the railways. It turned out that some people couldn’t read or write and had been working for the railways for years without anyone realising,” Iain said. “I wanted to go from working on the gate line to a job in the ticket office. The assessment was in three parts, one part maths, two-parts English. I found out afterwards that I had failed on the maths part. It was my fractions that let me down, I hadn’t used those since I was 15,” he said. Iain went on to do an English course and a basic IT course and got interested in helping other people like himself who left school with no qualifications. Now that Iain is spending two days each week carrying out his union learning rep duties, he says he has noticed that there is a huge demand for IT courses among ticket-office staff. “There is also a great demand for sign language, especially for staff who have face-to-face contact with customers as they have a lot of hard-of-hearing customers and staff would like to be able to communicate better with them,” he said. Iain said that interest in courses in the Brighton area has really taken off and people like the fact that the centre run by the union rather than the company. MEMBERS FREEPHONE HELPLINE Open six days a week 8am until 6pm 0800 376 3706 e-mail: info@rmt.org.uk Legal helpline: 0800 587 7516 Seven days a week 6