Michigan: Detroit Area

Officers: 

President: James Amar, Retired MERC Mediation Supervisor &                               Member MERC Arbitrator and Facfinder List
President Elect: Mark Gaffney, AFL-CIO
1st Vice President: Jack Witt, Macomb County Community College
2nd Vice President: Alberta Rigsby, Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service
Secretary: Mike Belzer, Wayne State University
Treasurer: Mark Cousens, Labor Union Attorney

Detroit Area LERA

We are the Detroit Area Chapter of the Labor and Employment Relations Association. Our chapter was established in 1953 as the Detroit Area Chapter of the Labor and Employment Relations Association (LERA) by a group of IR professionals and Wayne State University faculty members. Enthusiastic response soon led to a membership of some 150 and regular monthly dinner meetings, which continue today. We provide a forum for management, labor, academics and neutrals to explore issues of industrial relations and human resources. We encourage an atmosphere of cooperation and academic inquiry in exchanges among industrial relations practitioners with a goal of educating ourselves and others about the world of labor and employment relations.

Membership

Membership is open to anyone interested in or active in the field of labor-management relations. For a membership form, with alternative membership plans click on the Join Us link.

Meeting Programs

Our regular annual calendar of meetings follows the academic year, with monthly dinner meetings held in October and November, then January through May. Our dinner meetings begin with a social hour at 5:30pm, followed at about 6:15pm by dinner and our speaker or program for the evening.

Check out our "Upcoming Events" column to the right for up-to-date meeting information. 

About the LERA

The Labor and Employment Relations Association is a singular organization of professionals interested in industrial relations and human resources. If you are a professional or an academic in the field of industrial relations and human resources, we invite you to join the National LERA. The National LERA provides a network of practitioners and academics interested in the field of IR and HR who share their knowledge and insight through regular LERA publications and at LERA meetings twice a year. The National LERA was founded in 1947 as the IRRA-Industrial Relations Research Association and today encompasses more than 4,000 members.

The 100-member Detroit Area Chapter meets the first Thursday of the month, October through November and January through May. The Chapter publishes an annual membership directory and has established the Mark L. and Elaine Kahn Endowed Scholarship Fund. Dues are $50 for regular, student, senior, and organizational members. Affiliated with National LERA 1954.