Page 3 - Ontario Construction Secretariat (OCS)

ringing people together is part of the One of Adams’ recommendations was to form

Ontario Construction Secretariat’s (OCS) a self-funded organization composed of the
Bnature and one of the core reasons it exists twenty-five unionized construction trades and

as an organization. Back in the 1970s, there was their contractor partners along with government

a great deal of instability in Ontario’s Industrial, representatives. With this recommendation, the
Commercial, and Institutional (ICI) construction Ontario Construction Secretariat was formed in

sector, and the provincial government felt it was 1993.
necessary to introduce legislative reform. This

instability led to the establishment of single-trade According to Bronk, “The purpose of the OCS is

province-wide bargaining in 1978, which addressed to enhance Ontario’s unionized ICI construction
many of the industry’s issues. By the early, 1990s, industry by developing relationships, facilitating

the government of the day commissioned George dialogue and providing value-added research.”
Adams to review the effectiveness of province-

wide bargaining and to make recommendations for In the decades since its inception, the OCS has

further improvements to the sector. played a major role in bringing all industry

2 3