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 Find related Learning & skills initiatives training courses. See all courses.  Northwest Learning Centre Strategy Unions and Employers helping to build Working Communities The learning revolution continues...  |
Skills: Recession & RecoveryAs 2010 dawns, unionlearn is stepping up its work on a project to combat redundancies and create opportunities for employees to learn new skills to weather the economic downturn and prepare for the recovery. Last year ended with a pre-budget report which gave little succour to business and trade unions. It is evident that civil servants and public sector workers will now be in the line of fire for job losses, pay freezes and pension squeezes. N ews of the plan to close Corus's plant in Redcar, putting 1,700 steelworkers out of a job, signals tough times ahead in industry. Tom Wilson, director of unionlearn said: ' This is why unionlearn has launched the Skills: Recession & Recovery project, which is training learning and trade union reps in examples of best practise in avoiding redundancy. Where redundancies occur or are about to happen, the project works with employees to improve their learning and skills, help them find new employment and prepare them for new jobs as the economy begins to recover from recession. 'Unionlearn is working with the Regional Development Agencies, the Alliance of Sector Skills Councils (ASSC), Jobcentre Plus*, the Learning and Skills Council (and its reincarnations) and other key players concerned with employment and skills, including Acas and Business Link*.' The project aims to: avoid redundancies by gathering examples of best practise and finding strategies to stave off job losses until the economy recovers. identify growth sectors and broker learning opportunities for employees to gain new skills in order to navigate their way through the recession. work with regional agencies to identify funding sources to save small and medium businesses from closing down because of the current economic situation. provide workers who face redundancy with the personal skills, such as cv writing, financial advice and job seeking strategies, to cope with their situation. The project is presently working with unions whose members are facing redundancies in BAE (Northern Region) and Twinings (South Eastern Region). Skill: Recession & Recovery is funded by the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills through the Union Learning Fund*. It will run to March 2011 and is delivered by nine regional development workers and a national coordinator. Kirsi Kekki, national project co-ordinator, said: 'Unionlearn is attempting to make a positive contribution in these difficult times, working with a range of partners to help unions with their negotiations and to provide their members with the professional and personal skills to weather the economic downturn and be prepared for economic recovery.' She can be contacted on: 020 7079 6953 or kkekki@tuc.org.uk Regional Development Workers: Fred Grindrod, Southern & Eastern TUC fgrindrod@tuc.org.uk olin Lloyd, SERTUC clloyd@tuc.org.uk Katie Curtis, SERTUC kcurtis@tuc.org.uk Theresa Daly, West Midlands tdaly@tuc.org.uk Irene Murray, East Midlands irene.murray@tuc.org.uk Marian Mann, South West mmann@tuc.org.uk Ken Gyles, Northern kgyles@tuc.org.uk Noella Mellad, Yorkshire and the Humber nmellad@tuc.org.uk Peter Bury, North West pbury@tuc.org.uk NOTES TO EDITORS: All unionlearn press releases can be found at www.unionlearn.org.uk Media enquiries: Press release (600 words) issued 17 Sep 2009 |
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