About Us
May 2012 update: CSEF, the Wheel and Carmichael House are working together to provide this service free to all users. The revamped website will be available shortly. We are thus no longer requesting subscriptions.
Organisation
The Community Sector Employers' Forum (CSEF) is an autonomous association of community and voluntary organisations. It is run by a board of directors elected from the membership. It is a company limited by guarantee (Company Registration Number: 453809) and receives technical assistance from the Dublin Employment Pact.
The purpose of the Community Sector Employers Forum is to work to improve the quality of employment in the community sector by developing a strong employers’ voice. The initiative developed from the Dublin Employment Pact’s Equal at Work project which identified a range of problems in relation to HR practices and employment conditions in the sector.
The overall aim is to enable employers to develop a strategic approach to improving employment standards in the community sector by:
- Working to improve HR practices through the Employer Resource Bureau for the Community Sector
- Developing common positions on the issues that need to be addressed.
- Making representations to government and other relevant bodies.
- Engaging with Trade Unions on sector wide issues.
- Sharing experiences and providing mutual support.
Board of Managment
- Maureen Kelly, National Women’s Council of Ireland (Chairperson)
- John Stewart, Irish National Organisation of the Unemployed, (Vice Chairperson)
- Mick Creedon Ballymun Job Centre
- David Delaney, Bradóg Youth Service
- Stuart Duffin, Chrysalis Drugs Project
- Ruth Lawler, Citywide Drugs Crisis Campaign
- Mary Ryan, Fingal Centre
- John Scally, Sunflower Recycling
Membership
Membership is free at the moment and is open to all community and voluntary organisations from across the country which employs staff regardless of the number of employees. Employers’ Forum members should be committed to best employment practice. The CSEF aims to work within a partnership model of industrial relations and encourages a positive attitude towards trade union membership.
How we are run
The CSEF is run by a board of directors elected from the membership. It is a company limited by guarantee (Company Registration Number: 453809) and receives technical assistance from the Dublin Employment Pact.
Activities
The CSEF produces policy papers, organises events for employers, liaises with other employer bodies and trade unions and aims to make representations to government.
History
The CSEF was developed through the Dublin Employment Pact’s Equal at Work project which ran from 2004 to 2007 with the support of the EU Equal Programme. The Equal at Work project worked with 50 partners across the major employment sectors – the private sector, health sector, local authorities as well as the community sector. The aim of the work with the community sector was to improve employment conditions and HR practices in the sector.
April 2007: the Employers’ Resource Bureau website for the Community Sector was launched.
June 2007: The CSEF was inaugurated and an Interim Steering Group set up to develop the Forum.
October 2007: report back meeting to members was held. This included a presentation from the Labour Relations Commission on the free services provided by its Workplace Mediation Service.
November 2007: the CSEF collaborated with Equal at Work and the Community Sector/Trade Union Campaign Group in organising a major conference: ‘Setting the Agenda: Employment Standards and Conditions in the Community Sector.
February 2008: The CSEF was incorporated as a limited company. The first General Meeting of Members was held at which the first board of directors was elected.
For further information on the CSEF, contact jsomers@dublinpact.ie
