Regional Meetings: vital links in a provincial chain

OSM relies on regular regional meetings as a time-tested method for staying connected with its local associations stretching across Ontario.  As the official provincial association for unionized sheet metal member contractors around the province, OSM has a vested interest in staying in touch.  To this end, OSM schedules three regional meetings per year.  During these meetings the OSM Management Committee meets with local contractors to discuss issues of local interest, ranging from a wide variety of topics including such matters as market share and apprentice training development.  Local contractors who may need to inform themselves about common practices amongst contractors in other areas have an opportunity to tap into OSM expertise for their answers.

Regular regional meetings give OSM an invaluable grass roots view at the same time providing local members with a direct opportunity to table their questions and opinions at the provincial level as they voice their own needs and proposed plans.  Mike Dietrich president of the Waterloo-Wellington Association is anticipating a lively meeting when the Management Committee comes to Kitchener- Waterloo this fall.  As he points out, “The main advantage of such meetings is that contractors who would not normally be involved with OSM directly or those who don’t go to the annual convention, get a chance to meet OSM officials and to find out what the Association is all about.”     

Once in a while, the regional meetings put members in a position to partake of local history or even Canadian heritage.  One such meeting took place this past spring in Hamilton.  Management Committee members met with contractor members of the Hamilton & District Sheet Metal Contractors at the Warplane Heritage Museum, at the John C. Munro International Airport on the outskirts of Hamilton.  The museum houses a large collection of military aircraft that have seen action in the Canadian military, including the only two Lancaster bombers still in operation.  Management Committee and local contractor members convened at a dinner meeting arranged at tables set under the wings of the bombers.  Not only were local matters aired, all were reminded of the role Canadian sheet metal contractors have played in our past.

OSM REGIONAL MEETINGS: 2006-2007