Higher Education Industry Council

The LERA has called for management, union, neutrals, and academics to collaborate on forming a Higher Education Industry Council. This Council will bring together administrators, labor leaders and intermediaries with a common interest in creating a network for sharing research and best practices on labor and employment relations in our field. The Harvard University Office of Labor Relations has been working with the LERA to initiate this Council, and extends a sincere thank you to all of those members of labor, management, and academia across the country who have expressed an interest in the HEIC.

LEADERSHIP:
Co-Chairs
Management
Michael T. Loconto, Esq., Associate Director of Labor Relations, Harvard University, Office of Labor Relations
Academic
Judith Stilz Ogden, Associate Professor, Clayton State University

Advisory Board
Management
Rob Gannon, Director, Academic Budgets and Personnel, The University of Montana, Office of the Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs
Bill Murphy, Director of Labor Relations, Harvard University
LaMarr Q. Billups, AVP, Business Policy and Planning, Georgetown University
Barbara Lewis Johnson, Associate Vice President, Human Resources Services, University of Vermont
Harry Agnostak, Assistant Vice President for Human Resources, Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey
Union
Carl J. Levine, Esq., Partner, Levy Ratner, P.C., New York, NY
Bill Jaeger, Executive Director, Harvard Union of Clerical & Technical Workers (HUCTW)
Eric Marshall, Labor Relations Specialist, New York State United Teachers
Rachel Hendrickson, Ph.D., Mid-Atlantic Regional Director, National Education Association
Neutral
Karen Jalkut, District Vice President, American Arbitration Association (Boston)
Judith Stilz Ogden, J.D., LL.M., MST, Assistant Professor of Business Law, Clayton State University (GA)
Gregory M. Saltzman, Aris Professor and Department Chair Department of Economics and Management, Albion College
Mary Ellen Benedict, Professor, Bowling Green University
Adrienne Eaton, Professor, Rutgers School of Industrial and Labor Relations

SUBCOMMITTEES

Labor Issues in International Development
Management
LaMarr Q. Billups, AVP, Business Policy and Planning, Georgetown University
Neutral
Gregory M. Saltzman, Aris Professor and Department Chair Department of Economics and Management, Albion College

Public, four-year institutions
Management
Rob Gannon, Director, Academic Budgets and Personnel, Office of the Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs, The University of Montana
Barbara Lewis Johnson, Associate Vice President, Human Resources Services, University of Vermont
Harry Agnostak, Assistant Vice President for Human Resources, Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey
Neutral
Judith Stilz Ogden, J.D., LL.M., MST, Assistant Professor of Business Law, Clayton State University (GA)
Mary Ellen Benedict, Professor, Bowling Green University

Private, four-year institutions
Management
LaMarr Q. Billups, AVP, Business Policy and Planning, Georgetown University

Tenured Faculty
Neutral
Mary Ellen Benedict, Professor, Bowling Green University

Gender Issues
Management
Donna Scally, Associate Director of Labor Relations, Harvard University
Neutral
Mary Ellen Benedict, Professor, Bowling Green University

NEXT MEETING:
LERA 65th Annual Meeting, June 6-9, 2013, St. Louis, MO

HEIC Issues and Topics for Discussion

Research Opportunities

• A Survey of Campus Union Populations
  
  1. Public v. Private
  2. Is There Evidence of Union Avoidance in Higher Ed
  3. The Effects of Collective Bargaining on Benefits at Organized Institutions v. Unorganized Institutions
• The Harvard-HUCTW Negotiations (2007): A Case Study in Interest-Based Bargaining
• The Use and Effect of Campus Ombudspersons
• Labor Arbitration in Higher Education

Discussion Topics

• The Effects of Reopening Contracts Due to General Economics
• Legislative Developments affecting Higher Education Labor Negotiations
• Alternative Collective Bargaining Models
• Union-Management Collaboration
• Alternative Dispute Resolution Models for the Campus Workforce
• Staff Representation at Colleges and Universities
• Adjunct & Part-Time Faculty (Non-Tenure Track) Organizing
• Retraining Opportunities in Workforce Reorganizations
• Faculty Members as Supervisors of Staff and Adjunct/Part-Time Instructors
• Shared Governance: The Use and Effect of Staff Councils, Staff Senates and Employee Associations
• Professional Staff
• “Academic Professionals” (Librarians, Counselors and Administrators) as a Growth Group in Organized Labor
• Unemployment Insurance for Academic Employees
• Impacts of the “Little Hatch” Act

LERA Membership
Those parties interested in becoming HEIC members should also be members of the Labor and Employment Relations Association (LERA) in good standing.  To inquire more about membership at LERA and all of the benefits that come with membership, please contact Emily Smith at the LERA National office, at LERAoffice@illinois.edu or (217) 244-5419.  You may also register with LERA below. 

For All Other Questions
Please contact Mike Loconto, Management Co-Chair, should you have any further questions about the HEIC mission, membership or program.

Mike Loconto
Associate Director of Labor Relations
Harvard University Office of Labor Relations

LERA Industry Councils are supported by a grant from the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation.