29th Annual Seminar on Labor-Management Relations
Making the Law Work for You
Date: Friday, May 9, 2008
First Plenary Session – HOW ARBITRATORS DECIDE CASES
Professor Emeritus Edward Archer, IU School of Law – Indianapolis; Professor Robert Brookins, IU School of Law – Indianapolis; Professor Edwin R. Render, Louis D. Brandeis School of Law, University of Louisville; John Neighbours, Baker & Daniels, LLP
A tripartite panel of experienced arbitrators will draw on a number of hypothetical fact patterns and issues to discuss how they would approach and resolve them. Professors Archer, Brookins and Render are active members of the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Services, American Arbitration Association and the National Academy of Arbitrators.
Professor Emeritus Edward Archer retired from the IU School of Law – Indianapolis in 2001 after 33 years on the faculty. He served as a legal assistant to John Fanning of the NLRB and practiced labor law in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
Before he joined the IU School of Law – Indianapolis faculty in the fall of 1990, Professor Robert Brookins was a doctoral student at Cornell University. He frequently lectures on employment discrimination, labor/management relations, alternative dispute resolution, and employment law.
Professor Edwin R. Render has been a faculty member at the University of Louisville School of Law since 1968. He directs the clinical externship program, teaches in the areas of evidence and labor law, property, and has a well-established arbitral practice.
Panel moderator John Neighbours practices labor law as a partner at Baker & Daniels, LLP.
Second Plenary Session – NLRB Agenda
Rik Lineback, NLRB; Stephanie Blackman, Barnes & Thornburg (representing management); Barry Macey, Macey, Swanson & Allman (representing union); Colleen Maples, NLRB; Richard Simon, NLRB
Have you ever wondered what goes into the decision-making process between the time an unfair labor practice charge is filed and the Regional Director’s determination is announced? In this session, Region 25’s Regional Director, along with other Regional employees and representatives from labor and management, will present a special session dealing with unfair labor practice investigations, the various types of evidence sought and presented, logical inferences to be drawn from such evidence and the weight it should be given.
Quick Pick Session One
1. Taking a Case Before the NLRB
Patricia K. Nachand, Fredric Roberson & Patricia H. McGruder
Learn what to do to be fully prepared for an NLRB investigation. This session will also include a review of the Board’s award-winning website, which features information and guidance on a number of related employment law topics.
2. Legal Rights of Management (Management only)
Brian Garrison
A Guide to Effectively Handling Contract Administration, Grievances, and Information Requests. A thorough understanding of the provisions of your labor contract, and the rights granted and restrictions imposed by that contract is essential to successful labor relations. This session will discuss a variety of topics related to effective contract administration, including a discussion of employee discipline, tips on effective handling of grievances, and management’s duty to provide information to the union.
3. Legal Rights of Union Stewards (Union only)
Sheila Radloff and Robert Hicks
An overview of the rights and responsibilities Union members have in their capacity as Union stewards, including policing the collective bargaining agreement, participating in Company investigatory meetings of fellow members, processing and handling grievances, filing information requests and more.
Quick Pick Session Two4. Recent Developments in Judicial Review of Decisions and Emerging Trends and Issues Surrounding Electronic Evidence in Arbitration
Professor Robert Brookins
5. Recent Developments in Labor Law
Ryan Poor and Geoffrey Lohman
The NLRB issued a series of controversial decisions in 2007, which have been criticized by union advocates and lauded by employer advocates. Is Board Member Wilma Liebman correct when she characterizes the Board’s recent decisions as a "sea change" in the way the NLRB views and interprets the National Labor Relations Act, rather than the natural "see-saw" that occurs at the change of administrations? This session will review, the Board’s 2007 decisions involving The Guard Publishing Co. (employee use of company e-mail systems for union communications), Dana Corp. (voluntary recognition agreements and the recognition bar doctrine), Toering Electric Co. (refusal to hire union salts), and BE&K Construction Co. (retaliatory employer lawsuits).
6. Critical Issues Confronting Labor and Management
Todd Nierman and Richard Swanson
As political winds change, unions restructure, and employers increasingly globalize, new issues and corresponding legal challenges face both employers and unions. We will discuss corporate campaigns, neutrality agreements, use of technology in organizing, unorthodox communication such as banners and inflatable animals, and other cutting edge issues.
Quick Pick Session Three7. Salting (Union only)
Neil Gath
This session for Unions will focus on how to maintain active and successful organizing programs in light of the Board’s decisions in Toering Electric and Oil Capitol Sheet Metal. Union representatives will discuss cases in which the Board has recently ruled in favor and against claims of unlawful refusal to hire Union organizers. Current NLRB General Counsel Memoranda on these legal developments will also be examined.
8. Cut Back On Your Salt (Management only)
Stuart Buttrick
Unions have long used "salting," a process by which union organizers work for a non-union employer in an effort to organize the employer’s workforce. Many employers also believe that unions have used "salting" not only as an organizing tool, but also as a means of inflicting economic harm on non-union employers by embroiling them in potentially costly NLRB litigation. This session will discuss the Board’s recent decisions including Toering Electric and Oil Capital, as well as provide employers with a general discussion of union salting techniques.
9. Collective Bargaining Collaboratively – Reality or Pipe Dream?
Conrad Bowling
Commissioner Bowling will introduce to union and management Alternative Bargaining Processes. These alternative methods focus on the interests that are the root cause of a particular problem and encourage the use of objective standards to find a solution. Participants learn how to replace their traditional bargaining style with collaborative approaches to problem-solving.
CONFERENCE LOCATION
IU School of Law - Indianapolis
530 West New York Street
Indianapolis, IN 46202
HOTEL RESERVATIONS
The University Place Conference Center
850 West Michigan Street
Indianapolis, IN 46202
Telephone 317-269-9000
Toll Free 1-800-627-2700
upreserv@iupui.edu
IU School of Law-Indianapolis
530 West New York St.
Indianapolis, IN 46202
The Seminar has reserved a block of rooms at a conference rate for the night of May 8th at University Place Hotel and Conference Center. The rate for seminar attendees is $135.00 per night for a single room and $155 per night for a double. Reservations must be made by 5:00 p.m. on April 8th and you must mention the Labor Management Relations Seminar IU School of Law - Indianapolis in order to receive the special rate. There are a limited number of rooms in this block, so please make your reservations as soon as possible. Use this link and enter group code "LAWSCHOOL" to obtain the group rate.
REGISTRATION and Fees
Enrollment in the seminar is open to attorneys and labor and management officials. The fee for the seminar is $200. The fee includes all seminar materials and a boxed lunch. Please return the registration form as promptly as possible. Fees will not be refunded after April 30, 2008.
CONTACT INFORMATION
If you have any questions regarding the seminar, contact Shaun Ingram
Phone: (317) 278-4789
Fax: (317) 278-4790
E-mail: slingram@iupui.edu.
DISABILITY
Individuals with disabilities who need special assistance, call: (317) 278-3400. Special arrangements can be made to accommodate most needs.
PARKING
Free parking will be available in the surface lot immediately west of Inlow Hall (Lot 85). Seminar participants may park in this lot free of charge and do not need a valid IUPUI permit.
