GSG 10-24 Union Training
22/March/2024
Description
The Union is pleased to announce our training calendar for 2024 and we are currently seeking nominations for the forthcoming education courses.
Branch Secretary Stage 1 Course
May 28th, 29th & 30th & 11th & 12th June (5 days)
Venue: Union Head Office, Dublin
All newly elected Branch Secretaries are required to attend the Stage 1 course, as well as any currently elected Branch Secretary who may not have had the opportunity to attend in the past. This is a five-day course spread over two weeks and will cover the duties of the Branch Secretary, negotiation skills and other modules relevant to the role.
Chairpersons’ Course
May 14th, 15th & 16th (3 days)
Venue: Union Head Office, Dublin.
All newly elected Chairpersons are required to attend this course, as well as any currently elected Chairperson who may not have had the opportunity to attend in the past. The purpose of the course is to explain the role of the Chairperson within their Branch Structure and to cover other relevant modules.
Treasurers Course
June 19th (1 day)
Venue: Union Head Office, Dublin
This course is open to all newly elected Treasurers who will receive training on how to carry out the duties of Treasurer. Treasurers in addition to their own role will be required to represent members on occasion and will need the skills to do this which will be part of the training.
Branch Officers’ Course
June 5th & 6th (2 days)
Venue: Union Head Office, Dublin
The course is open to Assistant Secretaries and Vice Chairpersons. The aim of this course is to provide Branch Officers with the necessary skills to carry out the role of a Branch Officer given that they will be required, from time to time, to stand in for either the Branch Secretary or Branch Chairperson.
Those who have been previously trained as a Branch Secretary, Chairperson or Branch Officer are not required to attend.
Branch Secretary Stage 2
September 17th, 18th, and 19th (3 days)
Venue: Union Head Office, Dublin
This course should be attended by Branch Secretaries who have completed Stage 1 and are in their second or consecutive term as Branch Secretary. This course is offered subject to numbers requiring the training. Further details on the course will be issued to participants closer to the date of training.
Equality Representatives
October 2nd & 3rd (2 Days)
Venue: Union Head Office, Dublin
The Equality Representative is a support role to the Branch Secretary who can assist with equality related matters. This course is based primarily on the nine grounds of discrimination under employment equality legislation and deals with such matters as work life balance, statutory and non-statutory leave, disability in the workplace etc. Equality Representatives make reports to their committee as required. This course is only open to elected Equality Representatives.
Advanced Branch Officer
October 15th & 16th (2 days)
This course is open to Branch Secretaries who have completed the stage 2 course prior to 2024 and have been re-elected to their role. It is also open to Branch Chairpersons who completed the Chairperson training course prior to 2024 and have been re-elected. The course will cover topics such as employment law, communications, and other relevant issues. This course is offered subject to numbers requiring the training.
Committee Courses
This course is normally 2 half days in duration, namely a half day on a Friday afternoon and a half day on a Saturday morning, however the dates will be set with Branches as required.
The Education committee will make committee courses available at regional venues to facilitate Branches who have their own individual requirements for committee training. Courses offered will be subject to numbers requiring the training and workplace release. The Branch Secretary will be responsible for attendance and for organising release, as required, with local management. All newly elected Committee members are required to attend training as well as any Committee members who may not have had the opportunity to attend in the past. Requests for committee training will only be made available on receipt of completed committee training forms.
Branch Secretaries must contact Carol Scheffer directly to discuss Branch training requirements.
Please note that it is mandatory for all those who are elected to their Branch roles to be trained by the Education Committee.
Nomination Forms
Nomination forms for training are now available for Branch Secretaries to complete online at this link https://www.cwu.ie/training/training-forms
I would ask Branch Secretaries to fill in the relevant nomination forms for the courses that they wish their committee to attend so that we have the details recorded. It is essential that we receive nomination forms for those who applied for training in previous years and did not have the opportunity to attend.
Participants for all the above courses will be placed only on receipt of the current nomination forms. Further joining instructions will be issued to participants closer to the date of the relevant course.
Should Branch Secretaries prefer to fill out a hard copy nomination form then please email lorraine@cwu.ie
The completion date for the forms is Friday, April 12th, 2024. While we try to accommodate as many as possible on our training, please note that due to high demand for our courses, any nomination forms received after the closing date will be initially placed on a cancellation list.
Unionlink (www.unionlink.org)
In addition to our training offering, and on receipt of the nomination forms, we will be contacting all training participants to sign up for our online learning course “CWU – Role of the Rep”. Unionlink is an innovative way for our members to engage in trade union learning and provides flexibility so that members take control of their own learning in their own time.
All participants will be requested to complete the course in advance of attending their scheduled training as it is an opportunity to get to know more about the union, the important role of the trade union movement in general as well as guidance on how to participate more in Union activities.