Calendar Committee A Calendar Committee shall be appointed by the Superintendent to make non-binding recommendations, no later than March of each calendar year, to the Board. The committee shall include the President of the Association, or a bargaining unit designee, and one (1) additional member of the Association. It is understood that said committee shall include appointees of the Superintendent and may also include bargaining unit members from each designated exclusive employee representative which negotiates with the Board in accordance with §§6-408 and/or 6-510 of the Education Article to the Annotated Code of Maryland.
Technical Committee 1. The Technical Committee shall comprise:
(a) nine experts representing different regions of the Agreement Area, in accordance with a balanced geographical distribution;
(b) one representative from the International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources (IUCN), one from the International Waterfowl and Wetlands Research Bureau (IWRB) and one from the International Council for Game and Wildlife Conservation (CIC); and
(c) one expert from each of the following fields: rural economics, game management, and environmental law. The procedure for the appointment of the experts, the term of their appointment and the procedure for designation of the Chairman of the Technical Committee shall be determined by the Meeting of the Parties. The Chairman may admit a maximum of four observers from specialized international inter- governmental and non-governmental organizations.
2. Unless the Meeting of the Parties decides otherwise, meetings of the Technical Committee shall be convened by the Agreement secretariat in conjunction with each ordinary session of the Meeting of the Parties and at least once between ordinary sessions of the Meeting of the Parties.
3. The Technical Committee shall:
(a) provide scientific and technical advice and information to the Meeting of the Parties and, through the Agreement secretariat, to Parties;
(b) make recommendations to the Meeting of the Parties concerning the Action Plan, implementation of the Agreement and further research to be carried out;
(c) prepare for each ordinary session of the Meeting of the Parties a report on its activities, which shall be submitted to the Agreement secretariat not less than one hundred and twenty days before the session of the Meeting of the Parties, and copies shall be circulated forthwith by the Agreement secretariat to the Parties; and
(d) carry out any other tasks referred to it by the Meeting of the Parties.
4. Where in the opinion of the Technical Committee there has arisen an emergency which requires the adoption of immediate measures to avoid deterioration of the conservation status of one or more migratory waterbird species, the Technical Committee may request the Agreement secretariat to convene urgently a meeting of the Parties concerned. These Parties shall meet as soon as possible thereafter to establish rapidly a mechanism to give protection to the species identified as being subject to particularly adverse threat. Where a recommendation has been adopted at such a meeting, the Parties concerned shall inform each other and the Agreement secretariat of measures they have taken to implement it, or of the reasons why the recommendation could not be implemented.
5. The Technical Committee may establish such working groups as may be necessary to deal with specific tasks.
JOINT LABOUR MANAGEMENT COMMITTEE A Joint Labour Management Committee shall be established to attend to those matters which are of mutual interest. To ensure its effectiveness the Committee shall be separate and apart from the grievance procedure.
Joint Consultative Committee 46.1 The parties recognise the need for effective communication to improve the business/operational performance and working environment in agencies.
46.2 The parties acknowledge that decisions will continue to be made by the employer who is responsible and accountable to Government for the effective and efficient operation of the agency.
46.3 The parties agree that:
(a) where the employer proposes to make changes likely to affect existing practices, working conditions or employment prospects of employees, the union and employees affected shall be notified by the employer as early as possible;
(b) for the purposes of discussion the employer shall provide to the employees concerned relevant information about the changes, including the effect of the changes on employees, provided the employer shall not be required to disclose any information that is confidential;
(c) in the context of discussions the union and employees are able to contribute to the decision making process; and
(d) the Joint Consultative Committee (JCC) parties are to provide all reasonable and relevant information except confidential commercial, business or personal information, the release of which may seriously harm a party or individual.
46.4 Each agency will have a JCC comprising of the employer or their nominee, employer nominated representatives and union nominated representatives.
46.5 The JCC will convene within 28 days of a written request being received from either party.
46.6 The JCC will determine its own operating procedures.
46.7 JCCs will be a forum for consultation on issues such as:
(a) development of workload management tools within the agency;
(b) industrial issues;
(c) fixed term and casual employment usage;
(d) changes to work organisation and/or work practices occurring in the workplace;
(e) agency implementation of recommendations from the ‘Functional Review of Government’; and
(f) agency implementation of other aspects of this General Agreement.
46.8 Matters not resolved through the JCC can be referred to the provisions of clause 49 - Dispute Settlement Procedure.
Training Committee The parties to this Agreement may form a Training Committee. The Training Committee will be constituted by equal numbers of Employer nominees and ETU employee representatives and have a charter which clearly states its role and responsibilities. It shall monitor the clauses of this Agreement which relate to training and ensure all employees have equal access to training.
