Labor unions are confronting significant challenges -- outsourcing, pension benefit elimination and striker replacement, to name just a few. Join us for a presentation led by distinguished Northeastern labor law experts who will reflect on issues related to unionization, the changing nature of employment, globalization and workers' rights from the viewpoints of the trenches and the academy.

Moderator/Panelist

Karl Klare is an internationally recognized expert on labor and employment law and legal theory, fields in which he has written and lectured extensively. He is also a founding leader of the International Network on Transformative Employment and Labor Law (INTELL).

Panelists

Betsy Ehrenberg practices labor and employment law on behalf of unions and employees. Among her clients are unions representing food and commercial workers, health care workers, service employees and telecommunications workers. In addition, she represents public sector unions of health care workers, mental health professionals, municipal and state government workers, firefighters and police.

Judy Scott has practiced labor law in various unions for more than 30 years. Her experience includes counsel to the United Mine Workers in the historic and bitter Pittston coal strike (leading to the US Supreme Court ruling in UMWA v. Bagwell), negotiations for the United Auto Workers in Big Three auto talks over pregnancy discrimination protection and policies to address sexual harassment, and general counsel of the Teamsters during the initial reform period following the union's first rank-and-file election of its top union officers.

Ira Sills has practiced labor and employment law for almost 30 years and has taught Labor Law and Collective Bargaining at the School of Law since 1980. He is the former chair of the Labor Law Section of the Massachusetts Bar Association, and a former faculty member of the Labor Guild, where he instructed rank-and-file workers in labor law. He regularly lectures on issues of labor and employment law, and in 2001 received the Lawyer of the Year award from the National Lawyers Guild in recognition of his contribution to the struggle for political, economic and social justice.