The team of reps at the DHL site in Stoke have been recognised by Usdaw as one of the best organised branches in the union.

The branch, DHL Stoke K183, has fifteen reps, more than 600 members, a fully-equipped learning centre and an award-winning safety record putting this flagship operation at the very top of the warehouse sector.

The massive site has the Sainsburys contract and supplies stores across the UK from the state-of the-art facility in Staffordshire. It sits on the site of a former coal mine just across the way from Stoke City’s Britannia stadium and covers 527,000 sqaure feet – the equivalent of seven of its neighbours pitches.

The cavernous building houses miles of racking and conveyor belts, automated and manual picking cranes, has a huge storage capacity and a computer controlled system controlling and monitoring every case, pallet, cage and tote. The picking system reflects the store layout to minimise in-store shelf-filling.

DHL Stoke supplies more than 13,600 products in an average week, will see 1,100 deliveries from the site to 160 stores and 2 million cases enter and exit the site. It also recycles 90 per cent of all its waste with nothing going to landfill.

The hygiene team ensure a spotlessly clean warehouse, while the workforce turns round inbound and outbound juggernauts all year round. The site also provides employment in both the local area and from further afield.

The reps’ team cover all three shifts with some doubling up as safety reps and the Union Learning Reps look after the learning centre - ideally situated next to the canteen.

ULR John Goodwin has worked at the site since it opened in 2002 and is proud of the difference the learning centre has made:

We’ve had members brush up on their English, maths, and study towards City & Guilds and apprenticeships. It’s been a great success. We have 12 PCs here, and we work closely with the local college to offer as many courses and opportunities to learn as we can. It’s very popular."

Usdaw learning co-ordinator Julia Baldwin is full of praise for the reps:

Since we’ve had learning agreements in place with the company, this site has gone from strength-to-strength. The reps work closely with the management team to provide an excellent service.

This site could be used as a blue print for others to follow. We also work with the National Institute for Adult and Community Education. The progress on-site has been amazing."

The learning centre has also been used more specifically to help individual workers with dyslexia or numeracy issues. John adds:

We’ve seen people struggle with their picking rates and rather than go down the disciplinary route we look to help them with these issues and get them up to speed. It’s worked and we’ve saved people’s jobs."