Tracy Shannon and Neil Vernon are the Unite Learning Organisers based in Birmingham covering the West Midlands, working on the Union Learning Fund (ULF) which supports union learning projects. It helps members to explore learning, develop skills, achieve qualifications and promote lifelong learning opportunities within the workplace.

As Union Learning Organisers our role is to promote the value of learning in the workplace, this is achieved through supporting learners with their learning needs, supporting Reps with workplace learning and setting up learning centres when possible, which in turn helps to embed learning in the workplace. 

We have a great learning tool in our learnwithunite platform www.learnwithunite.org , however we are also constantly engaging with Partner Colleges and private providers to secure funding for learning, this can change every few months so can be quite challenging.

We also provide redundancy support where we help Officers and Legal and Affiliates to assist members at the time of the redundancy and moving forward, our work can be influential in the retention of members

We work alongside Reps, Organisers and Officers with various workplace events including Wellbeing Events where we also assist with the recruitment of new members to Unite.

We get the opportunity to meet with new Apprentices, where our aim is to explain the role of Trade Unions, employment rights and responsibilities.

Our role is instrumental in championing the importance of Learning/Upskilling and with assistance from workplace ULRs we work to boost the image and strengthen the organisation of their Union within their workplace.

This can help widen Union Membership across the board including underrepresented groups such as migrant workers.