Ron Franklin
Topic: The Human Rights Tribunal of Ontario: An alternative forum for Unions and their members
Using real life examples, this workshop will compare and contrast different ways in which Unions and/or their members can fight human rights-related injustice at work. It will also challenge Unions and their members to think outside of the box, offer them tools that can be used to take School Boards out of their comfort zones, and challenge them to think critically about the status quo and their broader role in an increasingly diverse society.
Bio:
Ron Franklin is a lawyer and oversees the work of Franklin Law, a social justice-oriented, employment law, human rights law, and labour law firm focused on working with, advising, representing, and training employees and other workers. He has been a worker all of his life, and this simple truth has shaped his experiences, his world view, the work that he does, the clients that he represents, and his decision to follow his heart and open up a law firm committed to fighting injustice at work.
Prior to attending Osgoode Hall Law School, Ron completed an Honours Bachelor of Science degree in Pharmacology and Toxicology at the University of Western Ontario, completed a Master of Health Science degree in Occupational and Environmental Health at the University of Toronto, and worked as a health and safety professional for various organizations in Ontario, Manitoba, Nova Scotia, and the United States.
In the summer of 2008, Ron opened Franklin Law and made good on his dream to start a social justice-oriented law firm focused exclusively on protecting workers’ interests. Years later, Ron has remained true to this vision, and is more committed than ever to helping employees and other workers to help themselves. He has represented and worked with an incredibly diverse group of employees and other workers from a variety of backgrounds, workplaces, occupations, and professions, and has seen first-hand the interplay between workers’ ethno-racial, gender-sexual, disability-based, and socioeconomic identities and their lived experiences at work.
While the vast majority of Ron’s practice has, and always will be, focused on holding employers accountable, he also believes that an accountable Union movement is a stronger, more effective, and more viable Union movement, and has increasingly focused on advising and representing unionized employees in precarious situations, and helping them to resolve difficult disputes with their Unions.
