Cyngor Gwynedd to adopt the Welsh Language at Work Charter

Cyngor Gwynedd has strengthened its reputation as a leading authority in promoting a workplace culture that places the Welsh language at its core, following the Cabinet’s decision to adopt Twf – The Welsh Language at Work Charter.

The Council will now proceed to formally adopt the Charter in conjunction with the Welsh Trade Union Congress (Wales TUC) and local representatives from Unison, GMB and Unite unions.

The Wales TUC has developed and adopted the Twf Charter, which supports workers, their trade unions and employers to work together to create bilingual workplaces. There is also a specific emphasis on ensuring an increase in the Welsh language at work and on ensuring that workers have access to representation by trade unions in their chosen language.

By agreeing to adopt and sign the charter, the trade unions and Cyngor Gwynedd as an employer commit to work together based on four core principles, namely:

• Growth and Welsh Language rights – a commitment to growing the Welsh language in the workplace.
• Inclusion and linguistic justice – creating a work culture that is supportive of the use of Welsh.
• Leadership and accountability – embedding a visible and inclusive bilingual ethos and culture.
• Continuous learning and confidence building – providing ongoing support for staff to learn and improve their Welsh language skills.

 Promoting the use of the Welsh language by staff – and ensuring that all services are available through the medium of Welsh – has been one of the Council's priorities since its inception. This is reflected in the Council's Plan, in the language policy of the authority and in the fact that 99.1% of the Council's workforce have Welsh language skills.

Councillor Llio Elenid Owen, Cyngor Gwynedd's Cabinet Member with responsibility for the Welsh Language, said:

“Cyngor Gwynedd has a long and proud history of promoting the Welsh language in all aspects of life and agreeing to adopt Twf, the Welsh Language at Work Charter, is another step on this journey.

“We welcome that the Wales TUC has decided to adopt this charter as a means of conveying the importance of the Welsh language to the economic future of Wales and to ensure that employers are representative of society. We hope that other organisations will follow Cyngor Gwynedd in adopting the charter.

“It is very good news that Cyngor Gwynedd is able to work with the trade unions to ensure that workers are represented through the Welsh language. These principles demonstrate the commitment to working in partnership in providing an inclusive bilingual workplace and to promote and enable growth in the use of the Welsh language at work.”