Helen Dowie Award 2011

CWU ULRs

Glasgow Royal Mail Centre

The sixth annual STUC Helen Dowie Award for Lifelong Learning recipient was a team of the Communication Workers’ Union Learning Reps at Glasgow Royal Mail Centre in Springburn. The recipients were Brian Regan, Stuart Armstrong, William Ferry, Derek Frizzle, David Hainey, Ian Johnstone and Andy Ross, who are all postal workers.

There are hundreds of workers on three shifts at the Royal Mail Centre, and shift patterns can often cause problems for the provision of learning opportunities to workers. However, these ULRs support learning within the workplace at all hours of the day.

The ULRs have conducted learning surveys for more than 600 members of staff. They have secured funding for almost 400 places on accredited learning courses on a range of topics, including Modern Languages and IT skills. To help prepare their colleagues for the mounting pressures of the current economy, the ULRs arranged courses on money matters. They also arranged everyday skills courses on creative writing and English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL).

The team was presented with the sixth annual award at the STUC Annual Congress in Ayr in April 2011 by Anne Douglas, Chair of the Scottish Union Learning Board.