Gwynedd Council’s Cabinet has adopted 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 Welsh language at work and on ensuring workers have access to representation by trade unions in their chosen language.

By agreeing to adopt and sign the charter, the trade unions and Gwynedd Council as an employer commit to work together based on four core principles, namely commiting to growing the Welsh language in the workplace, creating a work culture that is supportive of the use of Welsh, embedding a visible and inclusive bilingual ethos and culture, providing ongoing support for staff to learn and improve their Welsh language skills.

Promoting the use of the Welsh language by staff and ensuring services are available through the medium of Welsh has been one of the ouncil's priorities since its inception.

Cllr Llio Elenid Owen, 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 other organisations will follow.

“It is very good news Cyngor Gwynedd is able to work with the trade unions to ensure workers are represented through the Welsh language.”