Call for Session and Paper Proposals: LERA 68th Annual Meeting

Posted: May 30, 2015
Organization: Labor and Employment Relations Association (LERA)
Submission Date: November 15, 2016 to December 15, 2015

LERA 68th Annual Meeting, May 26-29, Minneapolis, MN
Millennium Hotel,1313 Nicollet Mall, Minneapolis, MN, 55403

Employment Relations in the Age of Uber:
Assessing Our Past, Present, and Future

Call for Proposals Flyer Download

Call for Papers and Posters Flyer Download

The LERA Program Committee has issued a call to all members, employers/management, union members/labor, attorneys, neutrals, researchers, for session and paper proposals for stimulating, creative, and controversial symposia, workshops, panel discussions, and more, related to this year’s theme as well as other proposals that deal with topics of current interest and the mission of the Labor and Employment Relations Association (LERA). Academics submitting proposals should make every effort to include representatives from backgrounds in non-university contexts. Representatives from government agencies and non-profits are encouraged to submit workshop proposals that address practical skills and mastery of tasks relating to regulatory oversight and enforcement.

Employment relations relevant topics that address the conference theme of contingent work, temporary and part time work, contracting, and more are especially encouraged.

For academic proposals, LERA encourages submissions from the perspectives of multiple disciplines – including but not limited to economics, sociology, political science, labor and employment law, industrial relations, history, urban planning, geography, public policy and human resource studies – and the perspectives of multiple stakeholders, including investors, managers, workers and unions.

The LERA 68th Annual Meeting will be held in conjunction with the 2016 Industry Studies Association Conference, May 24-26, both to take place at the Millennium Hotel in Minneapolis. Our two meetings will overlap on Thursday, May 26, and will feature joint sessions and joint special events.

LERA's Annual Meeting program branched into new formats in the past two years. The long-appreciated format of research papers and discussants lay the foundation to new ways of organizing sessions.
New formats include:

• Facilitated panels of practitioners
• Workshops hosted by one person
• Hands-on case studies workshops, like the Arbitrator Panel
• Point/Counter Point debates

The over-arching goal for the annual meeting program: Bring the labor and employment relations experts from all industries and perspectives and discuss how research-based practices improve work environments for everyone.

Expectations

 Before submitting your proposal, consider these points:

1. What is today's date? Session and general paper/poster proposals are not accepted after November 15, 2015. Competition papers and must be submitted no later than December 15, 2015. (Still other paper competitions are due Jan. 15, 2016 - please see http://www.leraweb.org/deadlines for complete list.)
2. Get the contact information for ALL participants of your session before you start. LERA communicates with all participants at different stages before the annual meeting. Email addresses are especially crucial for communicating updates. Collect all the needed information in a document before starting the submission form.
3. Sessions are now 90 minutes long. This change from 120 minutes (2 hours) was very popular with attendees and encouraged brisk, on-point discussions allowing for more sessions.
4. All participants are expected to register even if it is for one day. This requirement raises a one or two questions every year. LERA's mission focuses on being facilitators of open discussions on LER trends and practices. Our hope is the experts on all sessions will network and share throughout the day and meeting. All attendees benefit. From a practical point of view, with over 300 program participants, developing criteria for who pays and who doesn't was too challenging. The Executive Board understands the new session formats and an even more diverse audience means being flexible, which is why all program participants are eligible for the early-bird, member discount, whether they are a member or an early bird.
5. Don't let item #4 discourage you. Most completely understand the requirement. Be upfront when you invite the participants and the rationale for why this is LERA's tradition. Most will register because they will gain more than they give. The experts attending are the cream of labor issues and practice. Less than a handful mention any inconvenience. Consider sponsoring your panel's registration(s) through your organization and be recognized as an industry supporter of improving work. Contact Emily at LERA (217) 333-0072 or [email protected] if you are interested in recognition options.
6. LERA Program Committee guidelines will not allow any participant to act within a single session in more than one role (chair, panelist/presenter, discussant), and an individual cannot act twice in a given role throughout the entire program (all sessions at the conference). Someone can participate once as chair, once as panelist/presenter, and once as discussant. This is to ensure broad representation and participation of all LERA members and constituencies at the LERA Annual Meeting. There are a few exceptions to this rule to allow for competition winners, etc., but please use this as your guideline when crafting session proposals.