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CRBA Delivers Training at California State
University
- Monterey
Bay Campus
Faculty
Representatives, Professors, Support Staff,
Deans, Department Heads, Administrators and
Union Officials are attending a series of
three training sessions with C. Richard
Barnes and Associates, LLC (CRBA). These
sessions, sponsored by the Chancellor’s
office of the California State University,
are focused on Strategic Negotiation Skills,
Grievance and Arbitration Advocacy and
Resolving Workplace Disputes.
Additionally, John Swarbrick and Casey Elford
from CRBA will deliver the final cohort session
on Grievance and Arbitration Advocacy at the
East Bay Campus in December, 2008.
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C. Richard Barnes Addresses Dublin, Ireland
City Council Partnership |
Established in 1999, this joint Management-Union
Partnership was designed to address issues of
absenteeism, key organizational and business
issues, productivity and performance. This
forum is currently undergoing significant
change. Management and Unions have agreed to
deepen the existing agenda to include issues
normally confined to Industrial Relations. C.
Richard Barnes’ presentation to this group was a
sharing of experiences in successful partnering
activities. He has been invited to return to
Ireland to address the LANPAG conference on
“Handling Significant Change through
Partnership.”
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Richard Barnes Facilitates Residential
Construction Meeting |
Home building in Northern
Illinois is at a standstill, the unwanted yet
inevitable flip side of a “housing boom” that
screeched to a halt after decades of
unprecedented, explosive growth. Inventory of
existing (erected but unsold) new homes is now
estimated at 16 to18 months. Making matters
worse is the growing supply of foreclosed homes
flooding the market, increasing the unwelcome
surplus and further driving down prices and
demand. Adding to the obstacles facing new
residential construction are a shrinking pool of
potential homebuyers able to acquire a loan;
rising unemployment; the apparently
recession-bound national economy;
nervous consumers; and a bleak and
unstable long term financial forecast. Union
leaders representing eight Building Trades
Councils in Northern Illinois along with trade
association leaders from nearly 15 union-related
organizations met at the Residential
Construction Employers’ Council (RCEC), in
Downers Grove specifically to identify the
issues confronting the new residential
construction market, and to collaboratively
develop solutions to maintain their strong union
presence.
The
meeting facilitator, Richard Barnes, summed up
the complicated tasks that lie ahead for all
sides, if they intend to reach their goal of
keeping this work union and bringing back home
buyers in the process.“Today’s summit
was a breakthrough, by the very fact that a
frank discussion proved that you agree on far
more than you do not,” Barnes explained.
“The housing downturn is your common
problem, in the exact same way that in better
times housing is your shared resource. This
gathering acknowledged that the ability and
commitment to solve this crisis
together
are already in place; you are ready to meet the
unwelcome encroachment of the non-union sector
head on.
As
a team, you are clearly up to the challenge.
Like everything worth protecting and improving,
the work to achieve this will be long and
difficult, and no one is better equipped,” he
concluded.
After nearly six
hours of intense and productive conversation,
the attendees formulated a list of short and
long term ideas to develop, with the intention
of inviting key home builders to a future
meeting. A sub-committee of association
executives, union leaders, and contractors will
meet on December 10 at RCEC to refine and create
action-plans on the suggestions deemed most
worth pursuing as a result of this summit. Among
the trade organizations who convened at this
meeting were: Plumbing and Mechanical
Contractors Authority of Northern Illinois
(PAMCANI); Residential Construction Employers
Council; National Electrical Contractors
Association (NECA-Northeastern); Construction
Industry Service Corporation (CISCO); Plumbing
Contractors Assn. of Chicago & Cook County
(PCA); Underground Contractors Assn. (UCA);
Three Rivers Construction Alliance; Finishing
Contractors Assn of Illinois (FCAI) and Northern
Illinois Painting & Drywall Institute (NIPDI);
Plumbing and Mechanical Contractors Assn (PMCA)
Joliet; Mid-America Regional Bargaining Assn
(MARBA); Concrete Contractors Assn. (CCA); Lake
County Contractors Association (LCCA); and
Finishing Contractors Assn of Chicago (FCAC).
Also in attendance were contractors serving as
key officers for the above associations, and
officers and union leaders representing Chicago
& Cook County Building Trades; DuPage County
Building Trades; Fox Valley Building Trades;
IBEW Local 176; UA Local 93; Lake County
Building Trades; McHenry County Building Trades;
Carpenters Regional Council; and other invited
participants.
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CRBA and Polaris HR Team Present an
Advanced Mediation Seminar
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Polaris HR Director Ray Flaherty, C. Richard
Barnes and John Swarbrick of CRBA recently
presented an Advanced Mediation Workshop to
Irish Mediators servicing various ADR
disciplines. Pulling from the experience and
successful techniques used by CRBA, Barnes and
Swarbrick detailed real case studies from labor,
commercial and court based mediation and engaged
the participants in an exchange of how they
would have handled each scenario. Participants
rated the program as one of the most engaging
and productive training sessions they had ever
attended.
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Northridge Campus
Talent Management Initiative
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Great leaders never stop learning. They
continually seek out opportunities for personal
and professional growth. Being “Regionally
Focused and Nationally Recognized” depends on
leaders throughout the University setting the
atmosphere, tone, and example. Outstanding
leadership has a strong multiplying effect.
Dr. Jolene Koestner, President
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“Achieving Effective and Sustainable
Results:Managing Change and
Conflict” C.
Richard Barnes, former Director of the
Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service
during the Clinton Administration, will help
us deal effectively with real and imagined
conflict in the workplace. Participants will
learn how to understand and appreciate the
perspective of the “other” and to break the
cycle of escalation. As a result of this
session, you will have the tools necessary
to push down barriers to understanding and
communication and have a method for building
long-term effective relationships.
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Ag obair le cheile
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Local Authorities Work Place Partnership
LEMSB, IMPACT, SIPTU, AGTWU and Craft Group of
Unions
35-39 Ushers Quay, Dublin 8
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150 Management, Labor and Partnership
Officials from across Ireland gathered at
the Tullamore Court Hotel in County Offaly
to continue their work on “Handling
Significant Changes through Partnership.” C.
Richard Barnes served as the Keynote Speaker
for this event and joined colleague Gerry
Rooney from Polaris HR as he presented the
Strategic Plan for 2009—2012. Barnes spoke
on Organizational Cultures, Leadership, the
Process of Raising and Framing Issues in
Partnership and Protocols for Handling
Difficulties and Breakdowns.
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Casey Elford Addresses the
11th Annual Tennessee
Employment
Relations Research Association
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Casey Elford, CRBA General Counsel,
addressed the 11th Annual Tennessee
Employment Relations Research Association
(TERRA) at their conference held at the
Arnold Air Force Base in Tullahoma,
Tennessee on November 19-21. Dr. Bill Canak,
TERRA treasurer and sociology professor at
MTSU, said that the conference’s main
purpose is to provide seminars that will
present informational material and allow
those working in labor management fields to
network with one another. “It serves as a
forum for different constituents to learn
from each other and for experts to address
hot topics.” Some of the featured speakers
for the event included Ms. Elford, Steve
Rondone, Regional Economist for the U.S.
Department of Labor; Dr. Joel
Cutcher-Gerschenfeld, Dean of the School of
Industrial and Labor Relations at the
University of Illinois; and Dr. Bruce Barry
from Vanderbilt’s Owen Graduate School of
Management. Ms.
Elford’s presentation on Strategic
Negotiation Skills highlighted a DVD series
on Strategic Negotiations developed by CRBA.
For further information, contact CRBA at
crb@crichardbarnes.com.
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CURT—Construction Users
Roundtable
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C. Richard Barnes and Casey Elford, CRBA General
Counsel, will facilitate the upcoming CURT
Tripartite Initiative to be held in Hollywood,
Florida on February 26, 2009. This unprecedented
forum of Owners, Union General Presidents,
Contractors, Contractor Associations and
representatives of the Building and Construction
Trades Department of the AFL-CIO enters it third
successful year of driving profound change in
the construction industry. CRBA continues its
work with multiple organizations across the US
involved in change processes within the
construction industry.
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Barnes and Swarbrick to Teach at AIPM
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The Mechanical Contractors Association of
America's (MCAA) Advanced Institute for
Project Management (AIPM) was established to
further develop the project management
skills of experienced mechanical industry
project managers. The course is five days of
intensive, advanced level study designed to
make even the most experienced project
managers more productive and their jobs more
profitable. AIPM was developed at the
continuous requests of MCAA members who had
already invested in their project managers
by sending them to MCAA's highly acclaimed
Institute for Project Management (IPM). With
the industry's very best instructors leading
the way, AIPM students receive in-depth
training at a highly advanced level on:
Productivity; Change Order Management;
Conflict Resolution; and Establishing and
Retaining Lifelong Relationships. C. Richard
Barnes and John Swarbrick, CRBA Senior
Associate, will again this year present the
day long workshop on Conflict Resolution at
the University of Texas in Austin.
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Pictured Left to Right—Jim Cimino, Human
ResourceDirector, Casey Elford and C. Richard
Barnes, CRBA, and Arthurlene Towner, Associate
Provost |
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C.R.B.A. Completes Training at California State
University - East Bay
Faculty
Representatives, Professors, Support Staff,
Deans, Department Heads and Administrators
completed the first series of five training
sessions with C. Richard Barnes and Associates,
LLC (CRBA) on
April 18, 2008.
These sessions, sponsored by the
Chancellor’s office of the California State
University, focused on Strategic Negotiation
Skills, Grievance and Arbitration Advocacy,
Facilitation Skills, ADR—System Design and
Resolving Workplace Disputes. CRBA will begin
the next training series at the CSU Monterey Bay
Campus
May 27 and 28, 2008.
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C.R.B.A. Delivers Training in Strategic
Negotiation Skills
The Royal Sonesta Hotel in the
historic French Quarter was the setting as three
hundred and fifty members of the National
Electrical Contractors Association met in New
Orleans, LA.,
March 26 and 27 for training in Strategic
Negotiation Skills. With four simultaneous
classes operating for the two days, CRBA
delivered a comprehensive program on
Communication Skills and Theory, Negotiation
Styles, Negotiation Tools, Game Theory and The
Psychology of Negotiation. Joining Richard
Barnes in the presentation of this program were
CRBA employees John Swarbrick and Casey Elford
along with Consultants Don Philbin and George
Buckingham. Bill Triplett, Executive Director of
Labor Relations for NECA, characterized the
program as outstanding and the conference as a
huge success.
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President James Grogan of the
International Association of Heat and Frost
Insulators and Allied Workers has retained C.
Richard Barnes and Associates, LLC to provide
their program on Strategic Negotiation Skills to
two hundred and forty Local Union Business
Managers and Presidents as well as
representatives from the Insulation Contactors
Association. This event will take place
August 20 and 21
at
Caesars Palace in
Las Vegas, NV. CRBA employees and Consultants
will deliver a customized program in four
simultaneous classes over the two days.
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SMWIA -
Manufacturing Representatives Meet
The Contemporary Village at Disney World—Orlando,
Florida will host 80 manufacturing representatives of
the Sheet Metal Workers International Association for a
two day training program with C. Richard Barnes and
Associates, LLC. The program will focus on Strategic
Negotiation Skills and Problem Solving. The program will
be conducted August 19 and 20, 2008.
Our Friends and Links to Websites We Recommend
California State University
Gordon Graham
and Co.
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