The PIAA board will meet next week to ‘quickly address’ a range of issues raised in Tuesday’s emergency meeting between board members and the Members Action Group (MAG) over the direction of the peak industry body.
In a statement, the PIAA said: There are of course some key areas of concern where differences have not been resolved.
“I cannot guarantee the Board will make decisions which meet everyone’s expectations on every occasion,” said acting PIAA president Kieran May. “But as acting president of the association, I have committed to conduct a review in a number of key areas.”
May appealed to those members who have threatened to resign from the association to give the board more time.
“I ask those who are considering their future as a member to pause to let the Board make the changes they need to again be satisfied with the service and value they want from the PIAA,” he said. “I will make myself available to meet with as many other members in the short term to canvass their views and to provide some context to decisions.”
May told Print21: “To people who are considering pulling the pin, I would say: let’s sit on it and see what happens in the next couple of weeks.”
The acting president described Tuesday’s meeting at the Mascot Graphic Arts Club in Sydney as ‘productive.’
“Everybody in the room understood the need for change and the need to reset the narrative for the printing industry. Right from the start we made it clear that we were there to listen and we gave everyone an opportunity to talk about the issues that concerned them. It was a very fruitful and open conversation. We were able to demonstrate that some of those issues raised were already under consideration and I have committed to investigating some other things that came out of the meeting.
“Communication and leadership style featured strongly in the discussion. I cannot guarantee that decisions already made can be overturned but I will talk to people about what we can and can’t do. In recent weeks, the board has copped a lot of criticism that may have been justifiable but there has also been some discourteous remarks that bordered on slander. The board will meet next week to make good on its commitment to quickly address the issues that led us to the low point of recent weeks.”
The Board took the opportunity to hear the concerns of the members who took time out of their busy schedules to offer their views and concerns, said the PIAA, in its statement. It was also of interest that a number of member concerns were also concerns of the Board. The meeting ended with agreement on the direction the Association needs to take. There are of course some key areas of concern where differences have not been resolved.
MAG spokesperson Tom Eckersley said on Wednesday that he was happy with the way the negotiations were progressing.
May added that the PIAA also needed to move ahead with filling board vacancies created over the past few weeks and relaunch its search for a new CEO.
"We have pulled the previous advertisement for a CEO and we recognise the need to reset the job description. We've made it clear that we’re listening to concerns in that area but that it's the board that needs to make these decisions, after consultation with the members."