HR and Labour Relations in Public Sector Organizations: A Korean Visit

July 9, 2019 by Anonymous

On Thursday, June 27th and Friday, June 28th, the CIRHR welcomed a delegation of Korean labour relations professionals from Korea Management Association Consultants to Toronto.

The Korean delegation poses on U of T's Front Campus

Day One began with three presentations. First, “A summary of developments in the Public Sector Bargaining relations system in Canada” by Mikael Swayze, CIRHR Lecturer and Director, Academic Human Resource Services at the Faculty of Arts & Science. Second, “The Fourth Industrial Revolution (Industry 4.0): A Summary of the Impact on Employment Relations Policies and Work Practices” by Juan Gomez, Senior Partner & Director of Public Policy at ThinkTankToronto Inc. Finally, “The latest in CSR and global supply chain practices” by CIRHR Assistant Professor Greg Distelhorst.

Greg Distelhorst presents

CIRHR professor Greg Distelhorst presents the morning of the first day

After lunch at the Faculty Club and an impromptu tour lead by CIRHR Director Rafael Gomez along the way, the group spent the afternoon visiting U of T’s Organizational Learning & Development Centre.

Rafael Gomez speaks to a group in front of the Rotman building

CIRHR Director Rafael Gomez stops to tell the group about Rotman and the Robarts Library across the street

Tory Mathers, Director of Labour Relations at U of T, gave an overview of the labour relations initiatives at the university and the strategic priorities the university focuses on in bargaining, and the day concluded with a presentation by Terry Fitzpatrick, Director of Labour Relations at Ontario Power Generation.

Rafael Gomez and Tory Mathers present

CIRHR Director Rafael Gomez introdues Tory Mathers, Director of Labour Relations at U of T

On the second day, the group made visits to two Toronto Transit Commission facilities, touring the “barns” where streetcars are repaired and maintained, testing out a streetcar driver training simulator, and getting a behind the scenes look at Transit Control. Sean Milloy, Director of Employee Relations, gave an overview of the labour relations process at the TTC.

group listens in front of a streetcar in the TTC barns

In the TTC Barns

Inside view of the streetcar simulator console

Inside the streetcar training simulator

This visit was the most recent of several delegations of visitors to the Centre from Korea Management Association Consultants. It reflected the hard work of Alice Kim, a former CIRHR library assistant, and Hyun Wook Jo, of the OISE Education Commons, as well as faculty and staff at the Centre, and CIRHR PhD student Jen Harmer. Many thanks to all of the presenters and to Susan Sperling (MIR 1996) Acting Executive Director, Corporate Communications at the TTC, who made the fascinating behind the scenes visit possible.

Group selfie on a coach bus

Cate MacLeod (CIRHR Communications Officer) and Alice Kim say a final farewell to the departing delegates