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The Lucknow Sentinel, 1979-11-21, Page 10• t' • page 1O--Ludmow Sentl]nel, Wednesday, November 21, 1979 Aims to improve employee r BY JEFF SEADON The, Huron County board of education may have gone a long ways toward bettering poor employee relations rec- ently when it hired a person- nel and employee relations officer. Concern that' board and its staff were becoming dis- trustful ' and bitter toward each other prompted the hiring of the personnel offic- er. Long and bitter . contract negotiations that in 1978 developed into a secondary school teacher strike, the increasing number of griev- ances being filed by . staff. feelings that trustees and teaching staff couldn't un-. derstand the other's position and feelings that the delivery, of . education was suffering- because ufferingbecause of these rifts led thea board toits decision. John Cochrane, director of education, said Mondaythat he hoped the hiring of the personnel officer could patch up differences between'trus-. tees.and.board staff, Hesaid the board was 'very selective when hiring because it want- ed the right person for the job. Trustees feel they found j. the right person. Peter Gryseels, a. teacher for the - London board of .education;atvill take: up dutie's for the Huron board January•. 9 .. The .7 .year old iscurrent- ly a departmenthead in The London system and January 1 1979 Will 'begin his duties to ''Huron County. Cochrane said one of Grys eels' first tasks will be to' get. into the .'schools and get aegainted: withthe teachers. He said the .board hoped that Gryseels' experience as •a teacher and his understand- ing of the profession will' alloyhim to develop the kind,. of rapport with the teachers needed to be . successfulat" the job:. .. The directorsaid, the per- sonnel officer :will: be "ser- vicing- the .teacher contract which could be more import- ant t:haln negotiating the pact. another job he will be responsible for. "We hope he can nip a lot of problertis in the bud before they'feste.r," said the direct- or. Cochrane said the board'; realized two years • ago it needed someone on staff to negotiate teacher contracts. At that time it hired Fred Reeves, an experienced ,.ne gotiater in industry, to rep- resent the board at the nego- 'Bating table. That effort failed and''the board felt the failure was due to ,Reeves' inability to under- stand teachers and the teach- ing profession. Thisiyear a negotiater as hired through the. Ontaio Public School Trustees' s- sociation"'and while* ' thin' s went srfloother it was obvio j s sotneone was needed to .s r - vice the pact once it w s settled. The board will be payin ;Gryseels a secondary scho I prineipal'.s wage, $39,0014 year, but look at the wage as: a bargain. It spent in excess of $30,000 hiring. Reeves and only had him . while the contracts were being Written: "We'll he getting More mileage from our dollars," said Cochrane of the wage. Another feather in Gry- seels' cap is that he has experience with contract ne- gotiations. While in London he served as chief negotiator for the London teachers. Shirley Weary, head of the teacher negotiating team in Huron County 'this year, felt Gryseeis' hiring was a "pos- itive step on thepart of the board". She said employee relations were "fragment- ed" now because people with a job to do were also trying to handle the duties of a per- sonnel relations officer. She acknowledged that looking after staff problems was a full; time job. Weary said the fact that Gryseels was a teacher would at least allow him to under- stand the language of a teaching contract. She said servicing contracts was prob- ably more important than the actual negotiating. 'Sometimes the way things are carried out is more disastrous than the actual proposal," she said. According to the board's job description for the per- sonnel officer Gryseels will be required to • direct and co-ordinate the negotiations of the board with acade,inic and non-acad- emic staff • recommend to th.e board negotiating strategy and the board's bargaining position • hold meetings with negoti- ating teams and administra- tive staff to delop board pro- posals in negotiating • report the progress of ne- gotiations to the board and its staff • recommend actions in any work -to -rule, lock. out,"strilte or. other situations that -could occur to resolve matters develop continuous and re- sponsible approach to nego- tiations with each employee group { . • assist in interpretation and administration of all collect- ive agreements • work closely with the board's legal counsel on all employee relation ' matters referred to counsel • develop and maintain com- munications with 'other Wards with regard 'to new developments and strategies on negotiations • develop and maintain com- munications with board of education and teaching or- ganizations at the provincial level as well as the ministry of education to keep abreast of trends in bargaining and legislative policies affecting employee relations • maintain and generate statistics on . salaries, work= ing conditions and benefits in collective agreementsacross the province and • perform other tasks as may be requested by the director of education or the board. 'onstruction begins on Blyth theatre expansion Con;truction began November 12 on a long awaited' addition for Blyth Memorial Hall to upgrade facilities of the building that houses the Blyth ,Summer Festival,'• Thefirst sod of the -excavation was turned on November l .I : b% representatives of the Blyth:Village Council; wht,.h .owns .Memorial Hall:'the Blyth*branch oftihc Royal Canadian • Legion and .Blyth Centre for the Arts which is sponsoring the building program. Sheila Richards, president of the board of directors of .the Centre • for the Arts said it ". w'as fitting that the sod turning ook place on Remembrance Day since the wilding was constructed in 1920. as a me orial to the dead of World War 1; "The e pansion' and busy 'schedule of use of the buil ing makes it a living memorial," she 'said.. As well as updating the pre. ent building Which houses a 480 -seat thcatr a •meeting. hall andkitchen. the hitildi ig program.. includesan addition coritain'ng between ,W00 and 4000 syuart' feet of'st lee for a new hus office. administration offices, dressing • rooms. work .shops. storage space for sers and costumes -and a community crafts room.. In, addition a ramp for the ease of entry by handicapped and•a washroom for the handi- capped *are. included •in the project. Thecontract for more than . $200,000 was awarded to Wayne Stahle Construction -Ltd, of. Kitchener. The building will be complete' in March, 1980. 'The additionwill go a• long way toward solving many of ' the problems ' our actors, stage crews and office staffshave faced during the firstfive years of the Summer. Festival;" Mrs. Richards said. "''It will also. increase the comfort of our patrons through th9 handicapped' facilities and tie new box office and allow us to make. use of the balcony in the theatre which ha5 been unusable because of fire regulations. It's one more evidence of how far the Summer Festival has progressed since its founding in. • The expansion ispart of an • on-going program which saw air conditioning added•to the hall in 1978. While fundraising is ongoing a substantial portion of the funds have been provided ihrough'grants from th.e department of the Secretary of State of the. federal .. government, the :Capital Support branch of the Ontario •Ministry of Culture.. and Recreation, the ' Community • Centres Branch o.f the Ministry 'cif Culture and Recreation and Wintario. Private funding has so tar been. received :front The Richard Ivey Foundation, The. Atkinson Charitable; Foundatioli-. The. Samuel, and Saidye Brod-- man.' ronf—man.' Foundation and• the Garfield 'Weston.. Foundation. For staff Grysteels' duties will include • visiting schools regularly in an ombudsman role as a means of improving relations and discussing problems en- countered •'develop job descriptions for all employees and keep those descriptions current '• assist' -the director of education in an annual per- forma..nce. review .for all em- ployees and • perform other tasks as may be requested by the director of education or the board. Gryseels will have no easy time on the job but.the board is confident any effort and success he realizes will be much better than what it has now. As Cochrane notedhis first and most important duty will be to "try to keep molehills and molehills and not let them develop into mount- ains". Swire symposium December 5 The -key 'to success in any coinpetitive business.i`'effic- iency, and that's just what producers Will be talking about• at the Second Super Sw•inie Symposium, Decent •, ber 5 at the Stratford Fair- grounds. "We realize ihat.prices are down and costs'. are up," says Richard Smel.ski, , Ontario Ministry of Agriculture and Food swine spec.:i, list: "That's... why this : year's program 'theme is cutting. costs. and. increasing. effiic- iency •• The symposium is support - cd by county pork producer's associations. in •Perth, 'Huron and Oxford.., the :Ontario Ministry of Agriculture and Food: and • pork -related in- •dustries, - Last year .the symposium exceeded all expectations, attracting more than 1400 producers . from • across -.the province. •Organizers expect at least '1004 producers.:this year. ,making this •event •the largest winte.t pork niee.ting in -Ontario., 'if he one -day progratri feat- ures •ih presentations by sfieakers from. the Universit- les of Guelph. Michigan'. Indiana and . N'ebraska. The presentations •are divided into four sessions -- health, building design.• financial management. .and manage- ment. "The •program offers a lot of variety, and it's set up so producers can attend two •dif- ferent sessions during the • day.'-'• says Mr. • St»elski. "Proceedings of, the entire conference will be .available, to. all conference' visitors:" • in addition to the speak- ers, the conference `offers -a • unique. opportunity for. prod- ucersto' discuss common • problems More than '5 industries. Working . directly with the'•pork• industry,. will offer literature on new prod- urts. ' Cost of the program is $10. including • a luncheon.. Mr. S nelski"encourages interest• cd' prOducers to 'pre -register. because Only a limited num- ber of tickets will be sold at the door for $15. To pre -reg- ister. • write:• Swine Sympos- ium. c•o Richard Stnelski. .413 Hibernia Street, Strat- lord.' Ontario, N5A 5W2. cm.. David Cayley sprawls to atop the prick, but the Mildmsy shooter made Lucknow Atoms opined their season Thursday night. Midway on the bis mark, on this play hi the third period of Atom hockey, wheal the game 10.1. , • [Sentinel Staff Photo] • \\ e