Senior Labour Relations Advisor

George Brown Polytechnic•Toronto, ON

2d•CA$92,900 - CA$109,265•Hybrid

About The Position

Reporting to the Senior Manager of Labour Relations, the Senior Labour Relations Advisor provides authoritative leadership for the Polytechnic, exercising independent professional judgment to determine and implement responses to complex, high-risk labour relations matters. The role functions as a senior subject matter expert on the interpretation, application, and administration of collective agreements, employment policies, and legislation, while establishing the Polytechnic’s position in grievances, arbitrations, workload compliance, and strike-related issues with significant financial, legal, or precedent-setting risks. The incumbent holds institutional accountability for labour relations systems, processes, and compliance, including grievance and arbitration frameworks, settlement and workload administration, financial controls, reporting, and strike contingency planning, ensuring consistency and defensibility across the organization. Additionally, the Senior Labour Relations Advisor leads investigations, grievance strategy, settlements, and arbitration preparation, serves as the primary liaison with unions, legal counsel, and senior management on sensitive matters, and plays a key role in collective bargaining preparation, strike readiness, and providing strategic guidance to protect College interests.

Requirements

Post-graduate degree in Labour Relations, Industrial Relations, Human Resources, Education or related discipline.
Minimum seven (7) years of significant labour relations experience in a complex unionized environment, preferably post-secondary, including grievance arbitration, collective bargaining support, and high-risk labour relations matters.
Knowledge of HR and academic systems such as Banner, SWF (Standard Workload Form), Faculty Assignment Database, and Partial Load Registry are an asset.
Solid case management, planning, and coordinating skills, along with the ability to prioritize competing deadlines.
Excellent communication, collaboration, teamwork, and interpersonal skills.
Demonstrated commitment to uphold the Polytechnic’s priorities on diversity and equity.
Able to travel to various campuses.

Responsibilities

Provides strategic labour relations leadership by establishing institutional labour relations positions, advising senior leadership on emerging risks and compliance issues, and analyzing trends to identify risks and recommend preventative strategies.
Exercises independent judgement in interpreting and applying Academic and Support Staff collective agreements and related legislation, and leads the Polytechnic’s response to grievances, mediations, and arbitrations, including strategy development, settlement authority, and hearing preparation.
Acts as the Polytechnic’s principal representative in advanced grievance and arbitration matters, instructs and manages external legal counsel, and leads settlement discussions, determining institutional positions and authorizing Memoranda of Settlement.
Advises senior management on discipline and discharge matters with heightened legal or reputational risk, and conducts or directs complex investigations into workplace misconduct, harassment, and collective agreement violations, providing defensible recommendations.
Has institutional accountability for the design, governance, accuracy, and integrity of labour relations systems and records, and ensures Polytechnic compliance with collective agreement obligations, employment stability fund entitlements, reporting requirements, and settlement implementation.
Oversees labour relations financial processes, including union billing, legal invoices, ESF (Employment Stability Fund) calculations, settlement payments, and strike-related expenditures, while identifying and mitigating financial and legal risks arising from errors in administration or compliance.
Determines and articulates the Polytechnic’s labour relations position in Union/Polytechnic Committees and other joint forums, resolves escalated or complex matters, maintains senior-level relationships with OPSEU and sector stakeholders, and ensures consistent application of institutional labour relations positions across departments.
Other duties as assigned.