RMT LEARNING NEWS

RMT helpline 0800 376 3706 :: april 2012 :: RMTnews 26 J o Parry (right) has been an RMT Union Learning Rep (ULR) for the past two years and, despite working in an area of Transport for London where RMT does not have recognition, has organised many varied learning opportunities for her colleagues. As a branch activist with RMT young members and her branch, Jo has built up an extensive mailing list network and circulates regular bulletins detailing upcoming events, seminars, competitions, and courses supplied by TfL as well as links to informative websites on a variety of topics. She finds that these regular messages help keep people interested in what is going on. Jo has had great success in promoting the six book challenge through the branch and she was keen to organise an event to celebrate World Book Day last February. Using her mailing list, as well as the TfL intranet, she asked whether there were any published authors who work for TfL. Several authors responded and so Jo set about organising not just a one-day event as originally envisaged, but a whole week of events celebrating the works of these authors. Working in conjunction with the TfL Learning Zone, Jo arranged for each of the authors to have a one-hour session where they would talk about the process of writing and getting their books published. The events were ran at Palestra House and in the TfL Learning Zone. Jo was granted £150 from the RMT Learning Activity Fund for providing refreshments and was assisted at the events by colleagues from RMT Learning. Writers speaking at the events were Peter Bourne, Abraham Trujillo, Rebecca Galilee, Alan Devey, Ron Gwilliam, Simon Owoade, Angela Miller and the RMT CE of Member Janine Booth; and their work includes historical, fantasy and gritty reality novels, self-help manuals, science fiction and children’s books. All of the sessions were very well attended, showing that many TfL employees feel they have a book inside them and wanted information on how to get it published. As a follow-up to these events, one of the attendees is starting up a writers’ group for like-minded colleagues to help one another through the creative and publishing processes. S tephan Brennan, a systems engineer at London Underground, was recently elected as RMT union learning rep for LU engineering branch and he has helped establish a Knowledge Access Point (KAP), a mini learning centre at his work. Stephen has always had a passion for learning and recently completed his Certificate in teaching in the lifelong learning sector, so the role particularly appealed to him and he is on a mission to promote learning at his workplace, Griffith House. As well as encouraging his members to take up the six book challenge and creating a book swap shelf, he wanted to make engineering training materials more easily accessible for his colleagues. To facilitate this he contacted the Transport for London Learning Zone manager Joanna Ward to set up access to courses via the Learning Zone intranet, which would allow his colleagues to undertake some e- learning during their breaks. Working with his training manager, Mike Jackson, they identified a quiet corner to set up two computers, one with access to all the resources available on the TfL Learning Zone and the other holding information on engineering standards, access to the Engineering Library and all the training courses available to engineers at London Underground. Both computers also have access to external learning sites such as the BBC and LearnDirect. The official launch of the first LU Knowledge Access Point took place at the end of February with tutorials for learners on how to access the software from both the TfL Learning Zone and the Engineering Library. Following this successful launch, Victoria Marton, another RMT ULR based in a different department at Griffith House, has already identified an ideal area for a new KAP. Stephen said that there was no reason why these KAPs can't be rolled out all over TfL. “Working in partnership with the Learning Zone means you would only need a dedicated desk and PC in a quiet corner to get one started,” he said. WORLD BOOK DAY AT TRANSPORT FOR LONDON FIRST KNOWLEDGE ACCESS POINT FOR LONDON UNDERGROUND