Professor Emeriti
F.J. Reid, MSc, Ph D
A. Verma, BTech, MBA, Ph D
Associate Professor, Teaching Stream Emeritus
L. Riznek, MA, Ph D
Associate Professor and Director of the Centre
R. Gomez, MA, MIR, Ph D
Assistant Professor
D. Pohler, BCom, Ph D
Profiles
Michael P. Fitzgibbon is a founding partner in Watershed LLP a law firm specializing in labour and employment law. Prior to that, he practiced management-side labour and employment law for nearly 20 years at one of Canada's largest national law firms. Mr. Fitzgibbon was called to the Ontario Bar in 1993 after graduating from the Faculty of Law at Queen's University. Prior to that, he attended McGill University where he obtained a Bachelor of Arts degree, majoring in Industrial Relations. Mr. Fitzgibbon has co-authored two books: Recent Developments in Union Certification and Decertification (Carswell, 2001) and Understanding Ontario's Employment Standards Act, 2000 (Carswell, 2002), and contributed to others, has written on a wide range of labour and employment law topics, and speaks regularly at various conferences including, most recently, the Canadian Bar Association, Quebec Bar Association, Law Society of Upper Canada, Human Resources Professional Association of Ontario Annual Conference. He has been interviewed by, among others, MacLean's, Report on Business, Canadian Lawyer, the CBA National, National Post, Toronto Star, Lawyer's Weekly, Law Times, Canadian Lawyer and the CBA National Magazine and numerous other magazines, print publications and on television and radio on a range of labour and employment law issues. He is also the author of one of the first Canadian legal weblogs (http://labourlawblog.typepad.com/). Mr. Fitzgibbon is listed in Lawday.ca top 100 leading lawyers in Canada in the practice area of Employment Law for the year 2009 and in Canadian HR Reporter's 2008 Employment Lawyers Directory (a Comprehensive Directory of the Top Employment Law and Immigration Law Practitioners in Canada).
Rafael Gomez received his B.A. from York University, and M.A., M.I.R. and Ph.D. from the University of Toronto. He is Associate Professor of Industrial Relations and Human Resources, University of Toronto. His current research areas focus on: the wage and pay structure impacts of unions on CEO and executive pay; union and non-union voice at work; demographic issues related to the workplace and cross country growth; and local employment and economic development. Recent publications include “Labour Adjustment Implications of Offshoring of Business Services,” in Offshore Outsourcing: Capitalizing on Lessons Learned (edited by Daniel Treffler), forthcoming with Morley Gunderson; “Are Young People's Voices Changing? Youth Preferences for Voice in the Workplace in Canada,” in Young Workers in the Global Economy (edited by Gregory DeFritas) with M. Campolieti and M. Gunderson (2008); “Demographic Age Structure and Economic Performance Across Countries” Review of Income and Wealth, with Pablo Hernandez de Cos (2008); and “The Importance of Being Mature: The Effect of Demographic Ageing on Global Per-Capita GDP,” Journal of Population Economics, with Pablo Hernandez de Cos (2008).
Frank Reid received his B.A. from the University of British Columbia, a M.Sc. from the London School of Economics and his Ph.D. from Queen's University. Professor Reid served as the Director of the Centre for Industrial Relations and Human Resources for twelve years and is currently the Graduate Coordinator at the Centre. He has also served as President of the Canadian Industrial Relations Association. He teaches in the Department of Economics and in the Employment Relations program at Woodsworth College in the University of Toronto. His current research involves an assesment of the impacts of essential service designation as an alternative to the unfettered right to strike as well as continuing his established interest in the labour market and organizational impacts of bans on mandatory retirement in both Canada and Australia.
Lori Riznek is Associate Professor (Teaching Stream University of Toronto) in the Centre for Industrial Relations and Human Resources. Dr. Riznek holds an M.A. and Ph.D. from York University. After completing her Ph.D., Dr. Riznek spent many years working in both the private and public sector, as a line manager and a consultant working in the areas of business strategy, leadership and organizational development. Over that period, she worked continuously as a Sessional Lecturer in the Employment Relations program. In 2007, Dr. Riznek became a full-time member of the faculty, bringing with her considerable industry experience that informs her teaching and research. Dr. Riznek is particularly curious about developing tools to enhance adult learning, and is currently collaborating on three research and writing projects related to trust in the classroom setting, building concept mapping tools to support andragogy and a book on the relationship between strategy implementation and leadership. Dr. Riznek regularly is a guest speaker to various international trade and professional development organizations.