Organising through education

I wrote this for the forthcoming recruitment week - comments please!
The trade union movement has always relied heavily on education as a means of empowering its members and thereby strengthening the movement. Rail Union Learning (RUL) is no exception. Begun at the turn of this century to build on services already in place, RUL differs in that it is concerned primarily with the transport industry and is spearheaded by a network of “Learning representatives” who have been trained to offer information and guidance in the workplace, and encourage non traditional and isolated workers to take ownership of their personal development. Since its inception, RUL has helped hundreds of learners throughout the U.K. with issues ranging from basic literacy and numeracy (skills for life) through I.T. to Higher education. On a lighter side, we have helped people become adept in Indian head massage and seen whole groups learn Salsa!

In many workplaces members whose careers have stalled or stagnated have been assisted through internal assessments where often only their own fear of failure has held them back from promotion. For all these people and the ones we have not even met yet, what they see and what they get is a front line service from their Union in their workplace that adds up to enhanced value for membership. There are very few workers who, having engaged with a Union Learning rep does not join up. The R.M.T. recognises the value of this project and will be submitting a bid next year to the Union Learning Fund for continuing funding which means, as in previous years, there is also no cost to the membership – which is what I would call a “positive learning outcome”!