The Labor and Employment Relations Association (LERA) was founded in 1947 as the Industrial Relations Research Association. LERA is an organization for professionals in industrial relations and human resources. Headquartered at the School of Labor and Employment Relations at the University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign, the organization has more than 3,000 members at the national level and in its local chapters. LERA is a non-profit, non-partisan organization that draws its members from the ranks of academia, management, labor and "neutrals" (arbitrators and mediators).
LERA's constituencies are professionals in the areas of academic research and education, compensation and benefits, human resources, labor and employment law, labor and management resources, labor markets and economics, public policy, training and development, and union administration and organizing. The executive director of LERA is Emily Smith. Past presidents of LERA include John T. Dunlop, George Shultz, and Ray Marshall, all of whom went on to serve as U.S. Secretary of Labor.
LERA encourages research into all areas of the field of labor, employment, the workplace, employer/employee organization, employment and labor relations, human resources, labor markets, income security, and the international dimensions of all of these areas. The organization takes a multi-disciplinarian approach and includes scholars from various disciplines including industrial relations, history, economics, political science, psychology, sociology, law, management, labor studies, and others.
LERA promotes full discussion and exchange of ideas between and among all of its constituencies—academic, labor, management, neutral, and government—on the planning, development and results of research in these fields, as well as its useful application in both practice and policy.
LERA is also disseminates the latest research, challenges in the field, and best practices to researchers, practitioners, and the public, by holding meetings, producing materials and publications.
The association assumes no partisan position on questions of policy in these fields, but is an open forum respecting all opinions and perspectives. The association supports fundamental worker and human rights in the workplace and supports rights of the employees, employers, and their organizations to organize.
History The organization was founded as the Industrial Relations Research Association, by labor economists in the post World War II era, who found a need to expand upon discussions taking place surrounding workplace issues. For the first 52 years of the organization, the IRRA was headquartered at the University of Wisconsin, Madison. In 1999, the organization moved its headquarters to the campus of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, and Paula Wells became the executive director. The organization was invited to make the Institute of Labor and Industrial Relations at the University of Illinois its home base, which later became known as the School of Labor and Employment Relations in 2006, with LERA past President Joel Cutcher-Gershenfeld as its first dean. LERA itself changed its own name to the Labor and Employment Relations Association in 2005, in response to many changes taking place in the field, transitioning from industrial relations to the field of labor and employment relations.
Past presidents 1948 Edwin E. Witte, University of Wisconsin 1949 Sumner H. Slichter, Harvard University 1950 George W. Taylor, University of Pennsylvania 1951 William M. Leiserson, Johns Hopkins University 1952 J. Douglas Brown, Princeton University 1953 Ewan Clague, U.S. Department of Labor 1954 Clark Kerr, University of California 1955 Lloyd G. Reynolds, Yale University 1956 Richard A. Lester, Princeton University 1957 Dale Yoder, University of Minnesota 1958 E. Wight Bakke, Yale University 1959 William Haber, University of Michigan 1960 John T. Dunlop, Harvard University 1961 Philip Taft, Brown University 1962 Charles A. Myers, MIT 1963 William F. Whyte, Cornell University 1964 Solomon Barkin, Textile Workers of America 1965 Edwin Young, University of Wisconsin 1966 Arthur M. Ross, University of California 1967 Neil W. Chamberlain, Columbia University 1968 George P. Shultz, University of Chicago 1969 Frederick H. Harbison, Princeton University 1970 Douglass V. Brown, MIT 1971 George H. Hildebrand, U.S. Department of Labor and Cornell University 1972 Benjamin Aaron, UCLA 1973 Douglas H. Soutar, Am. Smelting & Refining Co. 1974 Nathaniel Goldfinger, AFL-CIO 1975 Gerald G. Somers, University of Wisconsin 1976 Irving Bernstein, UCLA 1977 F. Ray Marshall, University of Texas 1978 Charles C. Killingsworth, Michigan State University. 1979 Jerome M. Rosow, Work in America Institute 1980 Jack Barbash, University of Wisconsin 1980 Rudolph A. Oswald, AFL-CIO 1982 Milton Derber, University of Illinois 1983 Jack Stieber, Michigan State University 1984 Wayne L. Horvitz, Consultant, Washington, D.C. 1985 Everett M. Kassalow, University of Wisconsin 1986 Lloyd Ulman, University of California-Berkeley 1987 Michael H. Moskow, Premark International 1988 Phyllis A. Wallace, MIT 1989 Joyce D. Miller, ACTWU 1990 Robert B. McKersie, MIT 1991 James L. Stern, University of Wisconsin-Madison 1992 Ernest J. Savoie, Ford Motor Company 1993 George Strauss, University of California-Berkeley 1994 Lynn R. Williams, United Steelworkers of America 1995 Walter J. Gershenfeld, Arbitrator, Flourtown, PA 1996 Hoyt N. Wheeler, University of South Carolina 1997 Francine Blau, Cornell University 1998 F. Donal O'Brien, Arbitrator/Mediator 1999 Thomas A. Kochan, MIT 2000 Sheldon Friedman, AFL-CIO 2001 Magdalena Jacobsen, FMCS 2002 John F. Burton Jr., Rutgers University 2003 Paula Voos, Rutgers University 2004 Marlene K. Heyser, Workplace Law Strategies 2005 Stephen Sleigh, IAMAW 2006 David Lipsky, Cornell University 2007 Eileen B. Hoffman, Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service 2008 Anthony Oliver Jr., Parker Milliken, Clark O'Hara & Samuelian 2009 Joel Cutcher-Gershenfeld, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign 2010 Eileen Appelbaum, Rutgers University 2011 Gordon Pavy, AFL-CIO 2012–13 David Lewin, UCLA 2014 Martin Mulloy, Ford Motor CO. 2015 Lisa M. Lynch, Brandeis University 2016 Bonnie Prouty Castry, Arbitrator/Mediator 2017 Janice R. Bellace, University of Pennsylvania 2018 Harry C. Katz, Cornell University 2019 Kris Rondeau, AFSCME 2020 Dennis Dabney, Kaiser Permanente 2021 Adrienne Eaton, Rutgers University
Editors Milton Derber, University of Illinois, 1948–50 L. Reed Tripp, University of Wisconsin, 1951–56 Gerald G. Somers, University of Wisconsin, 1957–74 Barbara D. Dennis and James L. Stern, Univ. of Wis., 1975–77 Barbara D. Dennis, University of Wisconsin, 1977–89 John F. Burton Jr., Rutgers University, 1989–94 Paula B. Voos, University of Wisconsin-Madison, 1994–2002 Adrienne Eaton, Rutgers University, 2003–2009 Françoise Carré and Christian Weller, University of Massachusetts Boston, 2010-2014 Ariel Avgar, Cornell University, 2015–2019 Ryan Lamare, University of Illinois, 2020−
Secretary-treasurers William H. McPherson, University of Illinois, 1948–50 Robben W. Fleming, University of Wisconsin, 1951–53 Edwin Young, University of Wisconsin, 1954–62 David B. Johnson, University of Wisconsin, 1963–72 James L. Stern (Treas.), UW-Madison, 1968–69 Richard U. Miller, UW-Madison, 1973–77 David R. Zimmerman, UW-Madison, 1978–1999 Peter Feuille, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 2000–2014 Craig Olson, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 2015–2017 Ryan Lamare, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 2018–2019 Andrew Weaver, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 2020–
Founding members Vincent W. Bladen, University of Toronto Eveline M. Burns, Columbia University Ewan Clague, U.S. Department of Labor Milton Derber, University of Illinois William Haber, University of Michigan Frederick H. Harbison, University of Chicago Vernon H. Jensen, Cornell University Clark Kerr, University of California-Berkeley Richard A. Lester, Princeton University William H. McPherson, University of Illinois C. Wright Mills, Columbia University Donald G. Paterson, University of Minnesota Sumner H. Slichter, Harvard University Sterling D. Spero, New York University George W. Taylor, University of Pennsylvania Francis Tyson, University of Pittsburgh William F. Whyte, University of Chicago W. Willard Wirtz, Northwestern University Edwin E. Witte, University of Wisconsin Harry D. Wolf, University of North Carolina Dale Yoder, University of Minnesota
Charter members (affiliation at time became member) Benjamin Aaron, Arbitrator, Los Angeles Leonard P. Adams, Cornell University Gabriel N. Alexander, Arbitrator, Detroit (Mrs.) Jack Barbash, Amalgamated Meat Cutters and Butcherworkmen of NA Solomon Barkin, Textile Workers Irving Bernstein, UCLA Seymour Brandwein, Bureau of National Affairs George W. Brooks, Washington, DC Neil W. Chamberlain, Yale University Jesse C. Clamp Jr., Florida State University Bernard Cushman, Labor Bureau of Middle West Edward L. Cushman, Wayne University G. Allan Dash Jr., Arbitrator, Philadelphia John T. Dunlop, Harvard University Milton T. Edelman, University of Illinois Marten S. Estey, Cornell University Tracy H. Ferguson, Esq., Syracuse Joseph P. Goldberg, Jt. Congressional Comm. on Labor-Mgmt. Relations Lois S. Gray, Cornell University Einar J. Hardin, University of Minnesota James J. Healy, Harvard University Peter Henle, American Federation of Labor Morris A. Horowitz, University of Illinois Harriet D. Hudson, University of Illinois Arthur T. Jacobs, USNA, New York Howard W. Johnson, University of Chicago Jacob J. Kaufman, University of Toledo Clark Kerr, University of California-Berkeley Charles C. Killingsworth, Michigan State College Forrest H. Kirkpatrick, Bethany College Milton R. Konvitz, Cornell University Richard A. Lester, Princeton University Solomon B. Levine, University of Illinois Kenneth M. McCaffree, University of Washington Frederic Meyers, University of Texas James G. Miller, Cornell University John W. Miller Jr., Ford Motor Co. Charles A. Myers, Massachusetts Institute of Technology Maurice F. Neufeld, Cornell University Herbert R. Northrup, Columbia University Lloyd G. Reynolds, Yale University Milton Rubin, War Labor Board Stanley H. Ruttenberg, Congress of Indus. Organizations Sidney W. Salsburg, University of Wisconsin Arthur W. Saltzman, Syracuse University Richard Scheuch, Princeton University Rosalind S. Schulman, Indus. Union of Marine and Shipbuilding Workers-CIO Boaz Siegel, Wayne University Ruth S. Spitz, Ohio State University Arthur Stark, New York State Board of Mediation Jack Stieber, United Steelworkers of America Ralph I. Thayer, Washington State College Lloyd Ulman, Harvard University Martin Wagner, Louisville Labor-Mgmt. Comm. Morris Weisz, Bureau of Labor Statistics Donald J. White, Boston College William F. Whyte, Cornell University John P. Windmuller, Cornell University Fred Witney, Indiana University David A. Wolff, Arbitrator, Ann Arbor Henry S. Woodbridge, American Optical Co. David Ziskind, Esq., Los Angeles
Employment Policy Research Network