Preventive Mediation

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To help improve ongoing relationships and keep the lines of communication open between employers and unions, the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service (FMCS) offers a comprehensive Preventive Mediation Program, designed to help unions and employers build and maintain constructive working relationships.

All Preventive Mediation services are delivered jointly to unions and employers by mediators with extensive experience in both traditional and alternative approaches to labour relations. These services can be customized to meet the specific needs of a particular workplace and no fee is charged for the service.

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The Preventive Mediation services include:

The interest-based negotiation workshop provides employers and unions with an opportunity for joint training and informal discussions about the process of negotiation.

In this workshop, participants have an opportunity to experiment with the interest-based approach to collective bargaining and consider the effect the negotiation process can have on bargaining outcomes.

Training involves a combination of presentations, exercises, negotiation simulations and group discussion in the context of the labour-management relationship.

Interest-Based Negotiation Workshop

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Negotiations Practices Workshop

The negotiation practices workshop provides a forum where unions and employers can discuss the collective bargaining process and consider whether improvements could be made to their negotiating styles.

The workshop stresses the importance of thorough preparation, open sharing of information and joint discussion of both process and substantive issues.

Workshop activities include presentation, exercises and group discussion.

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Committee Effectiveness Workshop

Joint committees of labour and management representatives can function as the basic building blocks of a healthy labour-management relationship.

These committees provide both parties with a forum in which to discuss and resolve workplace issues during the term of a collective agreement.

This workshop is designed to help establish joint committees or assist in the revitalization of an existing committee by providing training in skills such as planning and running effective meetings, preparing agendas and minutes, group problem-solving, consensus decision-making and interpersonal communication.

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Problem-Solving Workshop

This workshop is designed for parties who wish to explore alternative ways of working together on a daily basis.

The workshop presents a problem-solving process which may help parties to address workplace issues in a more systematic and less adversarial manner.

Skills obtained in this workshop can be applied to a wide range of workplace interactions.

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Supervisor-Steward Joint Training

This workshop is designed to help improve the day-to-day interaction between union representatives and first-line supervisors.

The focus of the workshop is on collective agreement administration and grievance handling.

Exercises provide an opportunity to improve communication channels while considering the rights, responsibilities and restrictions of each party under the collective agreement.

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Managing Organizational Change

Organizational changes, including mergers, acquisitions and reorganizations often have a major impact on individuals as well as organizations and can, if not handled well, strain the labour relationship between the union and the employer.

The FMCS offers assistance to help the parties discuss, prepare for and manage the labour relations consequences of organizational change.

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Facilitation

The FMCS can provide the services of an experienced mediator to act as a facilitator for joint processes.

Whether it is a different approach to collective bargaining or the resolution of a major workplace issue, some joint initiatives can prove more successful if the process is guided by a neutral facilitator.

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Relationship by Objectives Program

The relationship by objectives (RBO) program enables employers and unions to redesign a relationship which may have become ineffective or dysfunctional.

During this program, key union and employer representatives meet for an intensive session of up to three days.

Under the guidance of a team of mediators, they try to reach agreement about the problems in their working relationship and to identify a variety of solutions.

The goal is to develop a clear, written action plan for improving the relationship, including a set of joint objectives, activities, and assigned responsibility for specific tasks.

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Grievance Workshop

The grievance workshop offers labour and management an opportunity to consider the effectiveness of their grievance administration process.

Through presentation, exercises and discussions, parties can explore ideas for improving their ability to resolve workplace issues in a timely and effective manner.

Facilitation can also be provided if parties wish to jointly undertake a remodelling of their grievance procedure.

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Grievance Mediation

Grievance mediation offers labour and management an informal and low-cost alternative to arbitration.

It provides parties with an opportunity to meet and attempt to resolve grievances and their underlying issues with the assistance of an experienced and neutral FMCS mediator.

If the grievance is not resolved during mediation, the parties retain their right to proceed to arbitration.