A Message from the Chair

Dear Friends and Colleagues:

We have a few announcements concerning leadership changes for our Committee.

Effective next month, David Garland from Epstein Becker Green will be taking over the Employer Co-chair role from Mike Delikat. Mike notes: “It has been a pleasure and honor to serve as the Employer Co-chair for this fabulous committee over the last three years, and there has been no bar committee or organization I have been involved with in a leadership role that has produced such memorable experiences and lasting friendships. Although I am leaving the Employer Cco-chair role in David’s good hands, you can be sure I will remain active on this committee and hope to see many of you in Buenos Aires in 2019 and other destinations in the years after! Thanks to all of the Co-chairs I have worked with over my term and especially to Brad Hoffman and his team and Rick Bales on our Newsletter for their invaluable assistance."

We also are pleased to announce that we have created a new co-chair position for one of our loyal members from outside the USA, the International Co-Chair role. We are pleased and gratified that Clare Murray, the founding and managing partner of CM Murray LLP, will take on this new role for a two-year term. Thanks to both David and Clare for agreeing to take on these important roles. Their terms will begin at the conclusion of the ABA Annual Meeting in Chicago on August 7, 2018.

We now look forward to the ABA Section of Labor and Employment Law’s 12^th Annual Conference, which will take place from November 7-10, 2018 in San Francisco, California. Registration is open and can be accessed at www.ambar.org/laborconference. We will hold the International Labor and Employment Law Committee dinner on Thursda, November 8, which has become a wonderful annual tradition. Make sure you register early for the Conference to take advantage of the early registration discounts. A special thanks to Innangard for once again sponsoring the beer, wine and cocktails at the Committee Dinner.

Our Committee will present the following programs during the Conference, which will focus on current labor and employment issues around the globe:

1. A panel on gender-based violence and harassment will discuss the continued evolution of the #MeToo movement and recent issues in human trafficking and gender violence in the workplace;
2. A program on the Gig Economy will ask the tough questions of where we are and where we are going and whether the Gig Economy is in fact "working" anywhere and for anyone around the world.
3. Finally, we will present a session focusing on how advocacy and litigation compare around the world in labor and employment disputes.

We thank our Track Coordinators, Clare Murray, Bronwyn McKenna and Maryann Parker, for their work on planning and organizing the panels for the Annual Section Conference. We look forward to these timely and thought-provoking programs and hope to connect with many of you during the San Francisco Conference.

We are excited to begin planning our 2019 Midyear Meeting, which will be held May 5-9 in Buenos Aires, Argentina at the fabulous Duhau Palace Park Hyatt Hotel. This will be the first time our Committee travels to Latin America for a meeting, and we look forward to expanding our active group of attendees and members from Latin America. A Host Committee for Buenos Aires is already in formation, so please reach out to us if you would like to be a member. Also, please send us your panel ideas and interest in being involved as a speaker or moderator. Finally, we are asking for early commitments on sponsorship opportunities for our Buenos Aires meeting. More about that in our next newsletter.

Finally, we encourage all of you to submit articles for publication in this newsletter to our Editor, Professor Rick Bales.

We hope you all enjoy the remainder of the summer and scout out some new locations for future meetings. We look forward to re-connecting with many of you in November in San Francisco!

Warm regards,

Katherine Blostein, Employee Co-chair

Mike Delikat, Employer Co-chair

Owen Herrnstadt, Union & Employee Co-chair