The Labor and Employment Relations Association (LERA) is hosting a series of webinars on “Labor and Employment Relations During the COVID-19 Pandemic” and you are invited to attend.

These webinars, planned to begin April 23, will take place on Thursdays, hosted by a mix of LERA Industry Councils, Interest Sections, and Local Chapters. The one-hour facilitated sessions will begin with brief comments by leading experts (5 minutes each), followed by open forum dialogue.  

The overarching aim is to deepen understanding and appreciation for the breadth of labor and employment relations matters during the COVID-19 pandemic.

These webinars are free to anyone who would like to join us. We request that you register for each webinar separately, and do not share, forward, or post the webinar links and passwords to ensure the security of each webinar session.

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April 23rd,  12 – 1 pm EST (New York Time)

LERA Policy Forum

“COVID-19 Crisis Calls from Government, Industry, and Labor”

Speakers:
Catherine Feingold (AFL-CIO and ITUC)
Sandy Jacoby (University of California, Los Angeles)
Tom Kochan (MIT)
Wilma Liebman (National Labor Relations Board, former)
Alan Wild (IBM, former; and HR Policy Association)

Moderator:  Joel Cutcher-Gershenfeld (Brandeis University)

Register for April 23 @ 12 EST 

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April 30th, 12 – 1 pm EST  (New York Time)

LERA Dispute Resolution Interest Group

“Virtual Dispute Resolution During the COVID-19 Pandemic”

Speakers:
Richard Fincher (Workplace Resolutions LLC)
Janet Gillman (Oregon Employment Relations Board) T
om Melancon (Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service)

Moderator: Mark D. Gough (Penn State University)
 
Note:  This webinar will explore some of the benefits and challenges of conducting mediation, arbitration, and collective bargaining through video conferencing.  Speakers will share their experiences in developing and carrying out virtual dispute resolution programs at state and federal government levels and in private practice.

 Register for April 30 @ 12 EST 

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May 7th, 12 – 1 pm EST  (New York Time)

LERA Health Care Industry Council

“On the Front Lines in the COVID-19 Pandemic”

Speakers:
Dennis Dabney (Kaiser Permanente)
Peter Lazes (Cornell University, retired)
Jim Pruitt (Kaiser Permanente)
Hal Ruddick (Alliance of Health Care Unions)
Bonnie Summers (BlueCross BlueShield Association)

Moderator:  Paul Clark (Penn State University)

 Register for May 7 @ 12 EST 

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May 7th, 1:30 – 2:30 pm EST  (New York Time)

Labor Journalism and Media

“Journalists Discuss Covering Work and Workers During the COVID-19 Pandemic”

Speakers:
Josh Eidelson (bloomberg)
Lauren Gurley (Vice)
Noam Scheiber (New York Times)
Nitasha Tiku (Washington Post)

Moderator:  Steven Greenhouse (New York Times, retired) 

Register for May 7 @ 1:30 EST

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May 14th – 10:00-11:00 EST (New York Time)

LERA Local Chapter Session — Midwest Region, organized by the Detroit LERA Local Chapter

“Keeping Your People Engaged Using a Structured OD Approach”

Speakers:
Elizabeth Chiaravalli (Michigan State University)
Terry Morgan (NLRB-region 7)
Freya Weberman, (MEA/NEA Local 1)

Moderator: Robert Chiaravalli (Strategic Labor and Human Resources, LLC)

Register for May 14 @ 10:00 EST 

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May 14th, 12 – 1 pm EST  (New York Time)

LERA Higher Education Industry Council

(jointly with National Center for the Study of Collective Bargaining in Higher Education and the Professions)

“Higher Ed Collective Bargaining and Shared Governance in Responding to COVID-19”

Speakers:
Theodore H. (Terry) Curry (Michigan State University)
William A. Herbert (Hunter College, City University of New York)
Risa L. Lieberwitz (Cornell University and American Association of University Professors)

Register for May 14 @ 12 EST 

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May 21st, 12 – 1 pm EST  (New York Time)

LERA Work and Human Resources Network

“Low Wage and Gig Work During the COVID-19 Pandemic”

Speakers:
Janice Fine (Rutgers University)
David Lewin (UCLA)
Sarah Thomason (University of California, Berkeley)
David Weil (Brandeis University)

Moderators:  Tashlin Lakhani (The Ohio State University) and Xiangmin (Helen) Liu (Rutgers University)

Register for May 21 @ 12 EST 

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May 28th, 12 -1 pm EST  (New York Time)

LERA Local Chapters Session — Eastern Region, organized by the New Jersey LERA Chapter

“Labor Relations in Times of Pandemic”

Speakers:      
Peter Cipparulo (CWA Local 1038)
Adrienne Eaton (Rutgers University)
Eric Meyer, Esq. (FisherBroyles LLP)
Patrick Westerkamp, Esq. (Westerkamp ADR, LLC)

Moderator: Jonathan F. Cohen, Esq. (Plosia Cohen LLC)

Register for May 28 @ 12 EST 

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June 4th, 10 – 11 am EST(New York Time)

LERA International and Comparative Interest Section

“Implications of COVID-19 for Workers: International Comparisons of Government, Employer and Union Policies and Practices”

Speakers:
Fang Lee Cooke (Monash University, Australia)
Greg J. Bamber (Monash University, Australia and Newcastle University, UK)
Martin Behrens (Institute of Economic and Social Research (WSI) of the Hans-Böckler-Foundation, Germany)
Harry Katz (Cornell University)

Moderator: Janice Bellace (University of Pennsylvania)
 
Note:  Fang will cover China; Greg will cover Australia; Martin will cover Germany; Harry will cover USA.

Register for June 4 @ 10 EST 

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The outreach to launch these sessions began with the leadership of the Industry Councils, Interest Sections, and Local Chapters.  In some cases, we have gone beyond these categories, but they continue to be the point of departure for our planning.  We are now in discussions on scheduling these additional potential sessions:

• Construction Industry Council and the Labor Studies and Union Research Interest Group, including Dale Belman (Michigan State University), Bob Bruno (University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign), and others
• Labor Markets and Economics Interest Section, including Peter Berg (Michigan State University) and others.
• LERA Local Chapters in Eastern, Central, and Western Regions
• K-12 Industry Council
• Public Sector Industry Council
• Sports and Entertainment Industry Council

LERA members interested in contributing to the organization of Industry Council, Interest Section, or Local Chapter sessions should contact the LERA COVID-19 webinar organizing group here: Joel Cutcher-Gershenfeld, Bill Canak, and Wilma Liebman.

LERA can host multiple sessions on the same date, either before (10 a.m. EST/New York Time) or after (1:30 p.m. EST/New York Time) a scheduled noon session, so additional sessions are possible.

LERA COVID-19 Webinar Organizing Group

Joel Cutcher-Gershenfeld, Brandeis University, LERA Industry Council/Interest Section Coordinating Committee Chair
Wilma Liebman, NLRB (former), incoming LERA President-Elect
William Canak, MTSU (ret.), LERA NCAC Chair