Coiste Gairmoideachais Chontae na Iarmhí
CO. WESTMEATH VOCATIONAL EDUCATION COMMITTEE
PARTNERSHIP CHARTER
1. Preamble:
(i) Co. Westmeath VEC recognised that major change in this organisation requires the active participation and support of all staff. Any change introduced in the Organisation that is agreed by consensus for discussion at the local working group is considered relevant. This can be achieved through partnership within the VEC and we recognise this is the preferred way to promote and achieve change in the organisation.
(ii) In Co. Westmeath VEC Partnership is an active relationship between management and employees based on recognition of a common interest to secure the competitiveness, viability and prosperity of the VEC.
(iii) Co. Westmeath VEC acknowledges its obligations to inform and consult employees on matters of importance to them and undertakes to do this through the established partnership structures.
(iv) Partnership involves a continuous commitment by employees to improvement in quality and efficiency; and the acceptance, by Co. Westmeath VEC that our employees are stakeholders with rights and interests to be considered in the context of major decisions affecting their employment.
(v) Partnership involves common ownership of the resolution of challenges, involving the direct participation of employees/representatives and an investment in their training, development and working environment.
(vi) Co. Westmeath VEC commits to actively promoting partnership through our Local Working Group which will be made up of an equal number of management and employee representatives.
2. Composition:
(i) The Local Working Group will be made up of at least 4 and no more than 10 people.
(ii) There will be equal numbers of management and staff representative nominees.
(iii) The management nominees of the LWG should be: CEO/EO, Head of Administration/Education Services, Head of HR, Head of Finance, Committee member or a person designated by the Committee to represent them
(iv) The staff representative nominees will be nominated by IMPACT, SIPTU Trade Unions.
(v) The Local Working Group may invite observers from any internal group to attend at meetings as required.
3. Objectives
(i) The LWG is the group primarily responsible for the promotion and development of partnership within Co. Westmeath VEC.
(ii) The LWG is required to ensure Co. Westmeath VEC meets the requirements of National Agreements as set out by the VEC National Partnership Forum.
(iii) The LWG is responsible for ensuring that all employees are informed and consulted about changes taking place within Co. Westmeath VEC.
4. Core Values
The successful implementation of the core values of Co-operation, Leadership.Teamwork, Participation and Customer Centeredness is the most effective means by which Partnership will be achieved within VECs. Co. Westmeath VEC will work to implement these in as many ways as possible across the organisation and use them as guiding principles in all decision making.
5. Agreement:
(i) Meetings of the Local Working Group will be held in accordance with LWG rules.
(ii) The LWG will deal with the following:
- Issues arising from National Agreements
- Issues from statutory requirements such as the Education Plan and Service Plan
- Issues raised by any member of the committee.
(iii) IR issues:
- The LWG will not deal with any issues that are related to the Terms and Conditions of employment agreed at National level
- The LWG can decide any issue is an IR issue which can be referred to the IR process.
(iv) Decisions will be made by consensus at LWG meetings.
(v) Disputes within the LWG will be handled as follows:
- In the case of local disputes there will be a number of discussions to resolve the issue
- If there is no resolution the LWG will call on the NPF to facilitate the discussion in a process agreed with the LWG.
6. Organisation:
(i) The LWG will relate to other bodies within the VEC as follows:
- The LWG may by agreement invite representatives of other project groups to join the LWG
- The LWG may by agreement send representatives to other project groups on invitation.
(ii) The LWG will relate to VEC partnership groups as follows:
- The LWG may establish sub groups to deal with projects, all members may not be members of the LWG.
- The LWG may establish links with existing groups and adopt as partnership groups.
(iii) The LWG will relate to other bodies as follows:
- The LWG will nominate a representative to attend the Regional Network Group with the support of the NPF.
- The LWG may nominate a representative to attend other local partnership groups.
7. Communications:
(i) Communication about information on Co. Westmeath VEC.
- Details of the membership of LWG and how it operates are on our website at www.westmeathvec.ie
- Capture of information on the VECNPF is on their website at www.vecnpf.com
(ii) Communications will be issued as a matter of form for the LWG on a half-yearly basis
(iii) Issues of immediate concern or great importance will be communicated to the relevant staff by means of personal briefings, notice board, Internal Circular, e-mail.
8. Training and Development:
(i) Partnership training and development will be made available through attendance at training seminars and will be available to all staff members and will be offered firstly to those on the LWG.
(ii) Co. Westmeath VEC will select staff for training seminars as follows:
- On the nomination of the CEO/Senior Management
- On the nomination of the joint chairs
Signed:
Joint Chairs of Local Working Group
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