Overview
On September 14 and 15, 2023, the National Center held a regional higher education collective bargaining workshop at the University of Illinois-Chicago. The regional conference was co-sponsored by the University of Illinois System, and the University of Illinois School of Labor & Employment Relations’ Labor Education Program.
The sold-out workshop included over 100 attendees and speakers from Illinois, Michigan, Ohio, Minnesota, New York, New Jersey, Oregon, and California.
This was the third regional workshop organized by the National Center since 2013, with the last two being held in California. It is part our effort to revive the tradition of holding regional programming similar to the events the National Center sponsored in earlier decades.
The workshop program at the University of Illinois-Chicago included facilitated sessions on specific collective bargaining issues as well as traditional panel discussions on collective bargaining, community colleges, academic freedom and free speech rights on campus, affirmative action and discrimination, best practices in arbitration, and legal obligations under public sector collective bargaining laws and the National Labor Relations Act. The conference keynote speaker was Sameer Gadkaree, President, The Institute of College Access and Success.
