Photo caption: left to right: Stephen Banaghan, MD of London Midland; Roger McKenzie, regional secretary of TUC; and Angie Butler, train driver, New St.
London Midland rail workers will learn a range of new skills, from information technology to foreign languages, thanks to the creation of a Learning Centre at Birmingham New Street station.
The project has been created with funding and expertise from Advantage West Midlands, and managed through Unionlearn West Midlands.
ASLEF’s Proud to Educate Project Worker Julie Freeston secured the funding to equip the centre, whilst London Midland provided the room, furniture and various other levels of support and equipment.
The RMT and TSSA Unions along with Solihull college and South Birmingham college are also partners in the project.
The new centre has been set up at New Street station to allow employees of rail operator London Midland to enhance and develop new skills.
The Learning Centre has 10 workstations, an electronic whiteboard and projector and is based on the over bridge at New Street to allow rail workers to fit learning around their shifts.
Workers have already learned IT skills and worked on literacy and numeracy skills and there are also plans to offer tuition in languages.
London Midland managing director Stephen Banaghan said: “The centre will be a great asset for staff. I've spent my life working on the railways and know it can be difficult to fit career development and learning around the early starts and late finishes.
“The Learning Centre is flexible and in an ideal location to help our workforce acquire new skills.”
Gerard Coyne (West Midlands Regional Secretary of Unite the Union) who is the trade union representative on the Board of Advantage West Midlands, said: "The key to this is that employers and employees prefer facilities to be as close as possible to their workplace in order to provide them with the flexibility they need to fit in with their busy schedules.
"This is a new and innovative project aimed at encouraging local businesses to be more competitive by improving skills and therefore stimulating the regional economy. It has never been more crucial than it is right now given the condition of the global economy.
"It is user friendly for employers and employees and is the result of a unique partnership between unions, employers and key funding agencies. It also supports a crucial part of the West Midlands Economic Strategy by raising skills aspirations and progression opportunities."
Unionlearn Regional Manager Mary Alys said: 'Since we spend so much of our lives in the workplace, creating a culture of workplace learning is vital to improving the skills of people in the region and to make the region more competitive. Many employers already see the benefits to business of investing in learning opportunities because staff morale is higher, retention rates increase and often opportunities to promote internally increase.'
ASLEF’s Project Worker Julie Freeston said “We are absolutely delighted with the Learning Centre, and the strong partnerships that have been built with all those involved. This is a vital resource for all the Union Learning Representatives within London Midland, enabling them to offer more learning and training opportunities to employees and the employer. We have a great network of ULR’s here at London Midland who work really hard to bring a variety of learning opportunities to the workplace and have built a good working relationship with employer around the lifelong learning agenda”
