If you would like further information on the training that we can provide, please fill in this form below. Please tick the training areas you are interested in–and submit the form or give us a call on 0800 0283 280
Support@Work
Telephone: 0131 556 3006
Email: Tanderson@stuc.org.uk
Employment Rights training / learning in the community sessions 2025/26.
Tuesday 31st March 2025– Community Learning Session on Employment Rights in the world of work.
Support@Work training at 151 The Cowgate in Edinburgh with Access to Industry Service Users.
Access to Industry works across Scotland with unemployed people who face barriers to employment.
Support@Work is an Edinburgh based trade union employment rights support project that is attached to Edinburgh TUC and funded by CCP, NHS and STUC.
Training session from 9.30am to 12Noon – Issues covered included: Contracts of employment, The role of trade unions and how to become involved and join a union, Rights and Responsibilities at Work followed by an Interactive quiz session.
Group of trainees were Access to Industry service users. Access to Industry staff attended also.
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TRAINING SESSION ON WOMEN RIGHTS IN THE WORKPLACE
IN COOPERATION WITH THE SUDANESE COMMUNITY IN EDINBURGH
CRAIGMILLAR 13/04/25
This training session “Women’s Rights in the Workplace” was attended by 22 people in person and followed on a live stream by 209 people.
We covered aspects of the Equality Act 2010, maternity rights, flexible working requests/negotiations and equal pay negotiations. The session was very dynamic with a high level of participation, including the sharing of experience/stories, questions and suggestions about themes for further training sessions.
Based on the feedback forms returned to us at the end of the session, the areas that we covered during the training were very interesting and relevant.
As in previous sessions, many questions were raised regarding “Non Guaranteed Working Hour Contracts”. This pattern shows that this type of contract causes a lot of confusion and concerns to employees, who feel less protected and think that they have less rights than other employees , including statutory rights like Annual Leave Pay, Maternity Leave etc.
People attending the session showed a lot of interest about the role of unions in the workplace, how to join the union and the benefits of working in a well organised, unionised workplace. Some of the people were already in unions.
At the beginning of the session there was some confusion regarding the nature of the training. Some men of the Sudanese community thought that the event was only open to women and were not happy about it. We clarified that the session was open to everybody, and that the theme of the event was Women Rights at the Workplace. We clarified that everybody interested in learning about it was welcome. Many men decided to stay and joined the event.
During the session some of the participants attending the event started asking questions that were not related to the event’s theme. After answering a couple of questions we had to refocus the event back to the main theme , “Women’s Right in the Workplace”,
and offered the option of organising further training to address the issues that had been raised, which were not about Women’s Rights.
At the end of the event we asked for feedback from participants. Unfortunately we did not have enough forms for everybody. We had to intervene to make sure that not all the forms were filled up by the men in the room. Next time we need to make sure that we have enough forms.
FEEDBACK FROM THE SUDANESE COMMUNITY CHAIR, FAWZIA OSMAN: The organisers were very satisfied with the training session and that they were looking forward to organising more events with Support@Work in the future.
I was reassured by the organisers that once the initial confusion about the event was clarified, all the men of the community were happy and that no further incident took place after the session ended.
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TRAINING SESSION ON RIGHTS IN THE WORKPLACE & CONTRACTS OF EMPLOYMENT with UKRAINIAN WORKERS GROUP at BARNARDO’S on 6th May 2025.
Session on rights at work and contracts of employment, 10 participants and finished with an employment rights quiz. Lots of questions on UK employment rights, rates of pay, payslips and zero hour working rights.
Feedback from Hanna at Barnardo’s: Thank you so much for the session today, it was really insightful, and the format worked extremely well. All the planned topics were clearly covered, and the printed materials provided will be a great reference for participants to keep handy.
Barnardo’s Young Person Group – Session on the role of Unions and Employment Rights
Wednesday 25th June 10am to 1pm at Barnardos, 151 The Pleasance, Edinburgh – training designed and delivered by Support@Work – an interactive morning session with 10 young
people working with Barnardos with a range of backgrounds – info on rights at work, contracts of employment were shared then the session closed with a short TUC film and an employment rights quiz.
SPANISH SPEAKING WORKERS SESSION 19th JULY at UNITE OFFICE
Employment Rights for Spanish Speakers (organised with Citizens Rights and Consulate of Spain)
Saturday 19th of July 12Noon to 5pm at the UNITE office in Edinburgh – training by S@W. This training was attended by 20 workers – translated documents were made available highlighting Fair work and contracts of employment.
Please note S@W have been contacted by staff from different consulates in Edinburgh and staff from both Consulates of Spain and Poland as well, staff have been contacting unions in Spain and Poland.
UKRAINIAN WORKERS SESSION (AUGUST 1st)
S@W has had meetings with the Ukrainian community who live and work in Glasgow/Lothian/Central Belt who are now part of the Integravia Foundation and the WISE Group that operates there.
The photo below is from this interactive session on Rights at work – there was excellent feedback form this event and Wise Group and others are keen to arrange more training with Support@Work in Edinburgh/ Lothian.
22 people attended this session. According to the feedback form, all the attendants agreed or strongly agreed that the content of the session was relevant, and the knowledge of the trainers was good. Some participants stated that the session had been too long and that another break would be necessary.
The session started half an hour later because people were arriving late and the organisers , The Three Millions made the decision to wait until everyone who had confirmed that they were on their way made it to the venue.
We used the Slido presentation for the second time in our training session and this time we could use the big screen in the venue. People attending the session find the presentation engaging and feedback that it was a valuable tool to the event. Several attendants reported that they found the case scenarios remarkably interesting and an opportunity to see in practice how the information given during the session can be used to challenge employers. Some participants reported that the trainers were particularly good at encouraging participation and were able to answer the questions .
The session was very dynamic with interesting questions being asked about Zero Hours Contracts, how to join unions, pensions, and H&S issues in the workplace.
The majority of participants have found out about the event through their mentors (The Three Millions) , one participant joined the session because he/she has found out about the event on Facebook and another one because a friend has told him/her about the event.
According to the organisers, The three Millions , some of the Ukrainian migrant workers have been long enough in the UK that they are a little bit more familiar with their rights as residents, however, there is still a lot of lack of information about the role of unions or their employment rights.
FEEDBACK – “Thank you for coming to deliver training to our employment group – your presentation was extremely engaging and I learned a lot as well as the students! The students feedback was extremely positive and they said it was very helpful for the World of Work.”
28th February -Wester Hailes – How can work, work for us?
Anchor Event – workshops with a focus on barriers to employment, wellbeing at work, and workers’ rights. A panel/ open forum discussion event from 2pm – 5pm discussed union in-depth this was followed by a creative arts workshop and live music until 7pm. The panel included Mhairi McKean from Scottish Trade Unions Congress/Support@Work, Patrick Duffy from Unite, Xabi from the Workers Observatory, Katie Galli from Score Scotland, Lynn Houmdi from Flexible Working Scotland, Ian Watson Support@Work – S@W staff participated in this roundtable event on health, well-being, rights at work and unions.
Upcoming Training /developments plans in 2026 – Update session with Ukrainian Workers Group in Barnardo’s Works in the Southside of Edinburgh, Events planned on update on Employment Rights Bill in Nov 2026 and further sessions with The Wise Group staff in May and service-users in June with a mixed group.
