Press Release
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| 26 November, 2007 | |
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Breaking New Ground Recap of OCS' 15 Annual General Meeting & Conference _________________________________________________________________________________________ The fifteenth Annual General Meeting and Conference of the OCS was a great success according to attendee evaluations. The weather co-operated for an excellent dinner cruise on the first evening and golf game the following afternoon. Kingston looked her finest as she prepared for homecoming the following weekend, and our conference speakers were deemed both interesting and entertaining. Bowser and Blue had us laughing to the point our sides hurt and Mike Duffy rated an overall ‘excellent’ by providing several interesting and accurate inside tidbits about the upcoming provincial election. Notwithstanding all these interesting components, the best aspect of this conference was the willingness and enthusiasm of the Employee and Employer bargaining agency representatives to break new ground by engaging in open interactive dialogue on some common issues and concerns! This was a historic first for the OCS despite the fact we have had a mandate to facilitate these types of discussions since being founded in 1993. Attendees from both sides recognized the potential value for addressing issues together as well as individually with their corresponding EBA partners. For this first interactive discussion, facilitated by Warren Wilson from the Intersol Group, our attendees reviewed the history of collective bargaining and examined its ongoing effectiveness after thirty years. Opinions were wide and varied but were all captured in round table discussion followed by review in open assembly. Several success stories by individual EBA partnerships were shared along with some unresolved controversies in other areas. “From the discussion on Province Wide bargaining, some key questions arose around the unionized ICI sector’s market share. There was general agreement that market share was the central concern for the sector and that the unionized ICI sector should aim to own it. The questions arose: Does the process of Province Wide Bargaining impact market share? Does the content of the collective agreement impact market share?” Excerpt from session report While it was never the intention for these discussion to determine specific resolution they did allow delegates to evaluate the benefits of such meetings on an ongoing basis and ascertain the values of collective information and perspective sharing on common issues affecting market share improvement. At the conclusion of two days of discussion the clear consensus was to continue to plan and hold such meetings enabling more information sharing and opinion exchange among those most directly affected. The OCS Directors were extremely pleased with the valuable discussion and inputs they received. They will provide a detailed ‘Next Steps’ proposal to the full EBA network in the very near future. The OCS has continued to demonstrate its value as a non-partisan facilitator. Individual EBA partners or appropriate partner groups are encouraged to take advantage of these facilitation skills to arrange appropriate discussions or other interactions as they might deem necessary or appropriate. Open communication and dialogue are recognized by everyone as key to ongoing success and probable failure if they don’t. The OCS can help provide opportunity for meaningful interaction - with no strings attached! Scott MacIvor (CEO) - OCS |
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