President’s Message – From Carmine Domanico
Bill 138, A.C.T., e-Learning and Member Programs
Dear Members,
To say that the last two months have been out of the ordinary would be a significant understatement!
We have received overwhelming support from our association members and hundreds of other HR professionals across Ontario, since HRPA commenced unfair actions against us. The support of our brave efforts to protect our profession has also been demonstrated through the Bill 138 Petition, not only by the numbers who have participated but also by the passionate comments posted on the petition and the numerous meetings with MPPs. On behalf of the TPPA Board I wish to thank you for your support, your emails and your phone calls.
We want to let you know that the programs we committed to you are still alive and well. These include the Mentorship program, A.C.T. (Assisted Career Transition) group, e-Learning tools, our affinity program and other programs. Information on these programs and services are included in this TPPA newsletter.
As dedicated volunteers we take the time to ensure that our members are well informed through transparent and open communications. We believe that truth, integrity and standing up for what you believe in are fundamental attributes and rights that all people, especially HR Professionals, must demonstrate each and every day and there should be no retaliations for doing so. Some of the most respected and senior HR leaders have been “eliminated” from the association for speaking out on your behalf. What will happen to your HR profession when there is no one left to speak for you and ask questions?
Let me say a few things about the value of truth. First, it seems natural to me that truth is a very good thing. We typically would much prefer to know and be told the truth than to be told a lie. We hardly ever say to ourselves, “I know that is false, but I choose to believe it anyway.” To believe something is to believe it’s true. Moreover, if your beliefs are true and you act on them, then you are likely to get what you want. On the other hand, it has to be noted that not all truths are created equal. Some truths may be not worth knowing. We have finite energy, finite resources, and a finite amount of time. We could spend all of our time and resources’ seeking to know every possible truth but that doesn’t seem like the path of wisdom. What we want to know are truths that matter, truths that are relevant to our practical concerns, truths that will be practical for action or explanation. Some truths are clearly more practical than others. The truth about Bill 138 is very practical and touches each and every one of us at the core of our profession.
TPPA has simply attempted to provide you the truth about what has happened over the last two months. We raised questions and concerns about Bill 138 so that everyone could understand the truth about the implications of the proposed law. In response to our efforts to raise awareness and serious concerns shared by the majority of our members and thousands of HR professionals across the province who were unaware of Bill 138 HRPA unleashed a campaign of complaints and propaganda unseen in our professional environment. In fact, soon after we raised these concerns, HRPA finally started to communicate to members about this Bill, but at the same time HRPA masterminded unprecedented retaliation against our Board members.
On one hand we are glad to see increased communications on Bill 138, on the other hand we see that the information being provided is “sugar coated” and does not address the questions raised by members. At this year’s HRPA Annual conference a special session was held to explain Bill 138 – members stood up and demanded answers, members publicly stated that HRPA has lost their trust when they heard the responses to their questions and the approach taken to bring Bill 138 forward. This is not transparent and truthful communications and this behaviour must stop – you deserve better. You deserve to know that your membership money is being used properly to support your profession and is not being used to engage you in meaningless dialogue and unprofessional attacks on your fellow members. You deserve a better professional alternative.
Bill 138 Clarification:
HRPA has made several public statements that members of the Toronto Chapter Board lobbied for Bill 138 last May. These statements are seriously incorrect and very misleading. We did not lobby for Bill 138 as the Bill and the specifics of the Bill were either not written or made available to us at that time. Specifics were never shared with any of the Chapters across Ontario until well after the first reading in the legislature and only after the Toronto Chapter raised concerns about the Bill.
We have publicly stated that we have always been a supporter of a stronger Public Act and Tier 1 status for HR professionals. However we never had any expectations that the act would contain provisions that we believe are very detrimental to our members and the profession.
This is not a government bill, it is a private members bill. We do not support specific sections of the Act that HRPA has put forward to government . We are very disappointed with the lack of engagement, transparency and honesty that HRPA has demonstrated throughout this entire process. What is most concerning is that this behaviour will continue if Bill 138 is allowed to pass and HRPA starts to create bylaws that further impact the profession.
Stay tuned on developments.
You can visit us at our website at www.thrpa.com, as well please join us at LinkedIn: TPPAINC Human Resources and on Twitter at @TPPAHR. You can also email us at
TPPAINC@gmail.com.
Don’t forget to sign the petition at
http://www.gopetition.com/petition/41862.html
Sincerely,
Carmine Domanico