Clean Slate Convening on Levels, Actors and Scope of Bargaining

Working group meeting of the  Rebalancing Economic and Political Power:  A Clean Slate for the Future of Labor Law  Project

DAY ONE – TUESDAY JANUARY 15, 2019

TIME: 12:30pm-5:00pm

LOCATION: Harvard Law School, Wasserstein Hall, 2036 Milstein West A

1585 Mass Ave, Cambridge, MA 02138

DAY TWO – WEDNESDAY JANUARY 16, 2019

TIME: 8:30am-2:00pm, (Closed Working Group I.A.-B. Session 2:00pm-5:00pm)

LOCATION: Harvard Law School, Wasserstein Hall, 2036 Milstein East B

1585 Mass Ave, Cambridge, MA 02138

Reimagining Collective Bargaining:

The economy is fissuring and disaggregating, but since 1935 collective bargaining has largely taken place at the level of a single “firm,” has excluded millions of workers who don’t fit a particular definition of employee, and is limited to a narrow set of topics.  This convening will explore how to adapt the scope of collective bargaining to meet these challenges.
Key Convening Questions:

• Should we move all or some collective bargaining to the sectoral level?
• How should we expand collective bargaining rights so that more workers can bargain collectively?
• How should we expand the scope of bargaining subjects to allow for more robust and productive worker voice?

Day 1 – Tuesday January 15, 2019
12:30pm-1:00pm	Registration with Coffee and Snacks
1:00pm-1:30pm	Opening Remarks Sharon Block, Executive Director, Labor & Worklife Program, Harvard Law School Larry Cohen, Chairman, Our Revolution Rajesh Nayak, Deputy Executive Director, NELP
1:30pm-1:50pm	Economic Table Setting Remarks: Who Has Been Excluded from Collective Bargaining and What Are the Consequences Darrick Hamilton, Professor of Economics and Urban Policy, The New School Rakeen Mabud, Fellow, Roosevelt Institute, Author of Left Behind: Snapshots from the 21st Century Labor Market
1:55pm-3:50pm	Sectoral Bargaining: What Can We Learn from the International Experience
1:55:pm-2:10pm	Overview of what we need to learn from the international experience: Craig Becker, General Counsel, AFL-CIO
2:15pm-2:45pm	Deep Dive into International Examples – What is Working: Fredrik Söderqvist, Senior Economist, Unionen, Sweden Cecilia Nahón, Executive Director of the Model G20 Initiative, American University & Former Ambassador to the U.S., Argentina Halton Cheadle, Emeritus Professor, Department of Public Law, University of the Cape Town, South Africa Olaf Deinert, Professor, Institute for Labour Law, Georg-August-Universität Göttingen, Germany
2:50pm-3:20pm	Deep Dive into International Examples – What is Changing Nicole Maggi-Germain, Lecturer and Director of the Institut des Sciences Sociales du Travail, University Paris 1, Panthéon-Sorbonne, France Anthony Forsyth, Professor, Graduate School of Business and Law, RMIT University, Australia Keith Ewing, Professor of Law, Kings College, London, United Kingdom Sandra Polaski, Former Deputy Director-General for Policy of the International Labor Organization (ILO) from 2012-2016
3:20pm-3:50pm	Open Discussion with International Experts
3:50pm-4:00pm	Break
4:00pm-4:50pm	Government Involvement in Bargaining: What Are the Pros and Cons Nicole Berner, General Counsel, SEIU Palak Shah, Director, Social Innovations, National Domestic Workers Alliance Kate Andrias, Professor of Law, University of Michigan Law School Lynn Rhinehart, Former General Counsel, AFL-CIO
4:50pm-5:00pm	Day One Closing Remarks Sharon Block, Executive Director, Labor & Worklife Program, Harvard Law School
Day 2 – Wednesday January 16, 2019
8:30am-9:00am	Registration & Breakfast
9:00am-9:50am	Sectoral Bargaining: What Can We Learn from the American Experience Nelson Lichtenstein, Distinguished Professor, Department of History, University of California at Santa Barbara Bob King, Former President, United Auto Workers Ray Rodriguez, Chief Contracts Officer, SAG-AFTRA Don Siegel, General Counsel, MA Building Trades
9:55am-10:55am	Expanding What We Bargain Over and Who Bargains Isabelle Ferreras, Professor of Sociology, University of Louvain, Senior Tenured Fellow, Belgium National Fund for Scientific Research (FNRS), Belgium Kris Rondeau, Former President, Harvard Union of Clerical and Technical Workers  Sarita Gupta, Co-Executive Director, Jobs With Justice  Brishen Rogers, Associate Professor, Temple University Beasley School of Law
11:00am-12:30pm	Small Group Discussions (Two Rounds): How might we combine sectoral and enterprise based bargaining?  How might we decide which subjects are appropriate at which level? Facilitators: Kate Andrias, Mark Schneider If we move some bargaining to the sectoral level, how might we define the role, if any, the government should have in bargaining? Facilitators: Larry Cohen, Sarita Gupta If we adopt a sectoral bargaining regime, how might we design a transition Facilitators: Craig Becker, Brishen Rogers How might we define the scope of subjects appropriate for collective bargaining? For meet and confer rights? For informational rights?  Any limits? Facilitators: Nicole Berner, Cathy Ruckelshaus How might we define who has the right to collective bargaining?  If we move to a sectoral system, is it everyone in the sector? Are there limits? Facilitators: Raj Nayak, Rakeen Mabud
12:30pm-1:00pm	Small Group Readouts & Open Discussion with Working Group Members
1:00pm-1:15pm	Closing Remarks Benjamin Sachs, Kestnbaum Professor of Labor & Industry, Faculty Co-Director, Labor & Worklife Program, Harvard Law School
1:15pm-2:00pm	Lunch
2:00pm-5:00pm	Closed Working Groups I.A. and I.B. sessions

See also: Clean Slate

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