Welcome to Trade Union Studies online!

This website gives you all the information you need about what we do, where we are, course dates, links to support resources for your course etc.

Support the 899 BAE Systems workers set to lose their jobs at Brough

Please support the workers at BAE Systems Brough, a plant that has led in skilled manufacturing in Humberside for almost 100 years. There are two things you can do right now, firstly, sign this e-petition in support. If we can get 100,000 signatures it will force a debate on the issue in parliament. Secondly, get as many people as possible to the cenotaph in Hull at 12 noon of Saturday October 8th for a march and rally. Thanks for your support.

Brand New Level 3 Diploma in Equalities

I am very pleased to announce that from September we will be offering the new Level 3 Diploma in Equalities at the St James Centre in Hull. This is an excellent new addition to the suite of Diploma level courses offered by the TUC and is available to reps who have completed the Union Reps Stage 1 course and also the Stage 2 (Union Reps Stepping Up) or other equality short courses such as Disability Champions@Work.

The course is structured in a similar manner to the other Diploma courses with three term modules, a major project and skills units to make up a 48 credit Diploma. The units are:-

Equality Issues At Work (9 Credits)
Equality Legislation (9 credits)
Working for Equality (9 credits)
Equality Project (9 credits)
Communication Skills (6 credits)
Legal Skills (3 credits)
ICT Skills (3 credits)

The course has been designed to be very practical and work based so that, over the year, reps will have to opportunity to make real progress on equality issues in their workplaces. The TUC are currently working on promotional materials for this course, I will inform you as soon as they are available.

If you, or any of your reps, are interested in this course we are taking names now for a start date of Wednesday September 14th so this gives you plenty of time to arrange release. Remember that you have an entitlement to paid release for equality and diversity training under Section 1.13.(a) of the ACAS Code of Practice 3 (cited in Section 2.21 with reference to training) and also completing the course will be of huge benefit to your employer particularly if you work in the public sector with the forthcoming single equality duty under the Equality Act 2010.

Please drop me a line to register an interest or to discuss the course content further.

For those of you who are our online learners, the course will probably be available for delivery in that format from September 2012.

March for the Alternative - 26 March 2011

Nearly half a million people in London to protest against the unfair ConDem cuts agenda including all of your trade union studies team. What an awesome day. No Ifs, No Buts, No Public Sector Cuts. Next time lets get a million there.

UCU Industrial Action - 24 March 2011

After picketing the St James Centre we went over to join our sisters and brothers at Hull College. As their banner says, unity is strength.

Why the cuts are wrong

Why cuts are the wrong cure from False Economy on Vimeo.

Sam West explains why cuts are the wrong cure. Find out more at http://FalseEconomy.org.uk/ - the website for everyone concerned about the impact of the government's spending cuts on their community, their family or their job...

Three new bespoke short courses

Following requests from a number of activists we have developed three new short courses which may be of interest to yourself and your branch in the current climate. We have designed these to be as flexible as possible so they can be delivered here at the St James centre or in your workplaces at times arranged to suit yourselves. The courses are:-

Employment Law Update – This course has a specific focus on issues around organising and participating in industrial action. Industrial action is a tool many of us may need to resort to and, if it is not properly conducted, can lead individuals and the wider union open to serious consequences.

Handling the Media – This course fits hand in glove with the industrial action agenda as the media are always keen to get reps opinions and will often twist the context of what is said to them to sound as if people are not supportive of the union line. The course covers writing press releases, preparing for live interviews and sticking to a collective agenda.

The Equality Act 2010 – The Equality Act has now replaced all of the previous ‘strand based’ legislation such as the Disability Discrimination Act, Race Relations Act etc. This course gives you the knowledge to use this complex legislation to build cases on behalf of your members on issues of discrimination and harassment.

If you feel these may be of use to you please discuss them with your union committees and get in touch with us to make arrangement for us to deliver them.

Cancer in the workplace course

This is a brand new course for reps that has been developed by the TUC with Macmillan which looks at the union role in preventing cancer and also supporting individual members following diagnosis. We are running this course for 3 Mondays starting March 7th.

Environmental reps course

This course is aimed at Safety Reps. Most Health and Safety committees in workplaces now have ‘and environment’ tagged to the title but do we really know enough about the subject or the potential union role? This course looks at these issues. Again this is running for 3 Mondays, this time starting on April 28th.

Best wishes

Dave