A great learning resource for postal workers

Postal May 25 2016

“This is a great resource and members will hugely benefit from it,” said CWU general secretary Dave Ward as he opened the brand-new learning centre at Leicester Mail Processing Unit yesterday.

Dozens of courses, ranging from IT and social media training to functional and social skills, languages and even arts and crafts will be on offer to Royal Mail staff within the Leicestershire Branch area – either within the fully equipped on-site classroom, or on a distance learning’ basis.

Adam Alarakhia is the lead union learning rep (ULR) for the branch and, with the support of the CWU and the business, he has been instrumental in getting approval and funding for the project, in preparation for the big launch.

“This site is a combined delivery office and distribution centre,” Adam explains, adding that there are around 400 staff here and some 1,500 across the Leicestershire Branch area as a whole.

Distance learning will be organised with Nottingham College, while Leicester College will provide the tutoring on site and Adam expects a high level of interest and involvement from members.

“We’ll need to get a minimum number of applicants for each classroom courses before it starts, but the non-site learning can start more or less straightaway,” he says.

Trish Lavelle, the union’s national officer for education and training, said: “This new centre is fantastic and we’ve now got over 100 learning centres at sites across the country. We work closely with both Royal Mail and BT and each year, we’re delivering education and training to some 6,000 members.”

Dave Ward, praised Trish for pushing forward the learning agenda, as well as Adam and the local branch and said it was “fantastic to have this facility here on site.”

He also expressed appreciation to Royal Mail for their support, saying: “On something as important as learning, it’s a good way of working together.”

The formal ribbon-cutting ceremony was performed jointly by Dave and Sue Whalley, Royal Mail’s chief operations officer, who said that she was “delighted” to have been invited to the opening, adding that learning and development were extremely important in terms of taking the business forward.