Rail Union Learning

Learning and Skills is the key to an employee's progression at work and better life chances.  What happens at the workplace is crucial to whether union members access learning or not.  That is why unions are putting and skills high up on their agenda.  Union Learning Representatives (ULRs) are doing much to build a learning culture at work.  They are unique and have the confidence of their members, the recognition of their employer and the support of the union.  They have also had the training to carry out their many roles.

 The Government has given ULRs statutory recognition on the same basis as union reps as a whole.  That recognition is a tribute to the ground-breaking work of the ULRs.  Just as health and safety representatives have helped make the workplace safer, ULRs are helping to make the workplace smarter.

What is the Union Learning Fund?

The Union Learning Fund (ULF) was set up in 1998 by the government as a source of funding to help trade unions promote and organise learning opportunities in the workplace.

Our success has been marked by a remarkable 600% increase in the value of the Fund since its inception in 1998, from a mere £2 million in 1998 to £14 million in 2004. However, the scale of the challenge we face cannot be underestimated. Almost a third of the workforce - over 7 million people - do not have a Level 2 qualification the foundation skills for employability, and around half of these have literacy, numeracy and IT needs.

The Skills Strategy launched in July this year creates a true social partnership between Government, employers and unions that will help us improve the nation 's skills levels, and the Union Learning Fund (ULF) is an important catalyst for this partnership for skills.

Together over the last six years unions, employers, learning providers and many others have developed over 400 innovative and imaginative ULF projects. A impressive 36,000 people have completed learning courses and employers, employees and their families are benefiting from over 180 learning centres in workplaces and communities across the country.

The ULF has helped support and train the ever-growing army of over 6,500 Union Learning Representatives (ULRs). The Statutory Rights now awarded to ULRs will help this army grow and we look forward to seeing a national network of 22,000 trained ULRs helping over 250,000 workers a year into learning by 2010.

For more information about the Union Learning Fund visit their website at www.unionlearningfund.org.uk

For more information about Rail Union Learning visit their website at www.rul.org.uk