REPRESENTATION

Mayor charts the way

A consultation is currently being promoted to businesses and other stakeholders, to both make them aware of the plans, and to seek feedback on the various measures due to be introduced. The intention is for the Charter to be about ‘good employment’, and not to scrutinise the practices of employers, although there have been some difficult and ‘honest conversations’ along the way before getting to this point. The Charter has five themes – opportunity, security, wellbeing, employee voice and fulfilment – and it is hoped that businesses will sign up to it to support its recognition and development. Those involved in creating the Charter represent a wide range of stakeholders, including trade unions, educationalists, NHS, ACAS and business representative organisations. Mike Cartwright, from the Chamber’s Policy & Representation team said: “We’ve been engaged from the start and understand the Mayor’s desire to build on the great employment opportunities West Yorkshire has. Stakeholders often had their own approach to what a Charter should include, and we frequently pointed out that the involvement and support of SMEs in initiatives such as these can be a test on their resources. The objectives are worthy but the measures used to achieve them need to be balanced and fair, otherwise businesses simply won’t sign up. We’ve informed the Mayor’s office of this, and will engage again once the consultation is complete.” More information on the consultation is available at www.westyorks-ca.gov.uk/a-mayoral-combined-authority/mayoralpledges/fair-work-charter/ Themes and what they mean: 1 Opportunity: Pathways to employment; Flexible work;

Recruitment; Progression 2 Security: Real Living Wage, guaranteed hours, minimise nonstandard contracts, sick pay from day 1 3 Wellbeing: Safe workplace, prevent discrimination/harassment, monitoring wellbeing) 4 Employee Voice: Consultation, representation, empowerment, participate in decision-making 5 Fulfilment: Learning/training provision, civic society engagement, performance development