EC Meeting Papers July 2018

34 FUNCTIONAL SKILLS SECTION HEADING SECTION HEADING SECTION HEADING SECTION HEADING SECTION HEADING SECTION HEADING SECTION HEADING INTERN TIO ALISM EVENTS HOW TO SIGN UP ADVANCED SKILLS ARTS & CULTURE FUNCTIONAL SKILLS FOUNDATION SKILLS EDUCATIONAL PRINCIPLES EA31 EA54 EA48

Understanding Parliament

Days: 2

Date: 27 - 28 November 2018

Location: Westminster

Days: 2

Date: 9 - 10 April 2019

Location: Westminster

This two day course, held in London, centres on visits to the House of Commons and the House of Lords. Participants will meet with MPs who have been (and are) active trade unionists and who know the inner workings of the Parliamentary system inside out. There will be a chance to question decision makers, tour Parliament itself, meet Shadow ministers and look at the mechanisms (such as the drafting of legislation, Early Day

motions and campaigning skills) that make Parliament work. This course is suitable for trade unions from right across the spectrum: from backgrounds in Branch, Regional, National and Executive Committee work. Do book early to avoid disappointment as the last time this was run the course was heavily oversubscribed!

Tutor: J. Callow

Debunking Economics

Days: 2

Date: 6 - 7 March 2019

Location: Quorn Grange Hotel

Sometimes we’re scared of even the word ‘economics’. For more than forty years we’ve been told than only academics, boffins and super computers can really understand it. Television and newspaper statistics leave us cold. This is all quite deliberate and constructed in order to alienate us from thinking too much about what economics and the economy are really about. At the same time, the Labour Movement has tended not to engage with the subject and, by default, has left the way clear for the policies of Austerity and the Free Market to go unchallenged. However, it doesn’t have to be this way. People are, after all, the economy; and the economy is deeply political.

Enjoy two days at Quorn that will equip you, and your union’s Reps, with a greater understanding of the real economy and the nonsense that the employers and governments speak about it. Among other topics, the course will cover questions about: • What is a wage? • How are prices really set? • What is profit? • And, are the bosses entitled to it? • Why are public sector cuts completely unnecessary and dangerous?

Tutor: D. Nicholls

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