Cathy Creighton is Director of the ILR School’s Buffalo Co-Lab. Prior to assuming this role, Ms. Creighton taught classes to workers interested in becoming union representatives through the ILR Extension’s Labor Studies Program. A graduate of the ILR School, she has been involved with ILR’s High Road Fellowships program since its inception in 2009, serving on the program’s advisory board. Ms. Creighton, who helped draft Buffalo’s living wage ordinance, is former chair of the city’s Living Wage Commission; a co-founding partner of the law firm Creighton, Pearce, Johnsen & Giroux; and director of the Erie County Fiscal Stability Authority. She also serves on the Coalition for Economic Justice Workers’ Rights Board and is a former board member of the Lawyers Coordinating Committee of the AFL-CIO and the Labor and Employment Relations Association of Western New York.
Democracy at Work
Event Overview
Many experts believe that this inequality is the result of policy choices that have stripped workers of the power to join together and negotiate for decent wages, benefits, and working conditions.
A bill pending in Congress, the Protecting the Right to Organize (PRO) Act, seeks to overhaul federal labor law for the first time in decades. The PRO Act addresses the difficulties workers have in organizing and would help restore workplace democracy.
In this special two-hour event, labor experts will discuss the PRO Act, evaluate its chances of passing, and examine how it would change the lives of American workers.
What You'll Learn
- The current state of union membership and organizing in the United States
- How income inequality has affected Americans throughout the years
- What’s included in the PRO Act and how likely it is to be passed by Congress
- How the labor law reform legislation would impact workers
Speakers
Lynn Rhinehart is a Senior Fellow focused on labor policy, unions, and collective bargaining at the Economic Policy Institute, a think tank based in Washington, D.C. that provides research and analysis on economic issues as they affect working people. She is Special Counsel to Actors’ Equity, the union for stage actors and stage managers, and consults with labor organizations on a variety of union issues. Ms. Rhinehart is on the board of the National Employment Law Project, a not-for-profit organization that advocates for the rights of low-wage workers and the unemployed. She recently served on the advisory board of the Harvard Law School “Clean Slate for Worker Power” labor law project and was on the labor agency review team for the Biden-Harris transition. Until July 2018, Ms. Rhinehart was General Counsel of the national AFL-CIO, a federation of 55 national and international labor unions, and Executive Director of the AFL-CIO Lawyers Coordinating Committee, a national organization of 2,100 union-side labor lawyers.
Mark Gaston Pearce is a visiting professor and executive director of the Georgetown University Law Center Workers’ Rights Institute. He is also a panel labor arbitrator and mediator for AAA and FMCS. Formerly a two-term board member and Chairman of the National Labor Relations Board, Mr. Pearce taught at Cornell University’s School of Industrial and Labor Relations as a visiting scholar and lecturer. A graduate of Cornell University and the State University of New York at Buffalo Law School, he has been in the practice of labor and employment law for more than four decades, first as an attorney and later as district trial specialist with the National Labor Relations Board. Mr. Pearce’s career in private practice includes co-founding the Buffalo, New York law firm Creighton, Pearce, Johnsen & Giroux, where he represented parties in matters regarding civil service, employment discrimination, collective bargaining, contract compliance, individual contract negotiation, arbitration, and NYS Taylor law prosecution. He has lectured at many universities and given continuing legal education presentations for numerous state and national bar associations, the AFL-CIO, Cornell University, and the National Labor Relations Board. Among other honors, Mr. Pearce was twice recognized as a Superlawyer by Superlawyers of America; named a Champion of Workplace Justice by the Employment Justice Center of Washington, D.C.; and placed on the National Employment Law Project Honor Roll.
Paul Murphy was appointed Regional Director of the National Labor Relations Board’s Buffalo Regional Office (Region 3) in 2017 and is currently also serving as Acting Regional Director of the Boston Regional Office (Region 1). Mr. Murphy began his career with the NLRB in 1979 as a co-op Field Examiner in Cleveland (Region 8) and returned there as a full-time employee in 1980. He transferred to Region 3 in 1982 then was promoted to Supervisory Examiner in 1997 and Region 3’s Assistant to the Regional Director in 2007. Mr. Murphy received his B.S. in Economics from SUNY Geneseo in 1978 and a Master’s in Industrial and Labor Relations from Cornell University’s School of Industrial and Labor Relations in 1980.
Cathy Creighton is Director of the ILR School’s Buffalo Co-Lab. Prior to assuming this role, Ms. Creighton taught classes to workers interested in becoming union representatives through the ILR Extension’s Labor Studies Program. A graduate of the ILR School, she has been involved with ILR’s High Road Fellowships program since its inception in 2009, serving on the program’s advisory board. Ms. Creighton, who helped draft Buffalo’s living wage ordinance, is former chair of the city’s Living Wage Commission; a co-founding partner of the law firm Creighton, Pearce, Johnsen & Giroux; and director of the Erie County Fiscal Stability Authority. She also serves on the Coalition for Economic Justice Workers’ Rights Board and is a former board member of the Lawyers Coordinating Committee of the AFL-CIO and the Labor and Employment Relations Association of Western New York.
Lynn Rhinehart is a Senior Fellow focused on labor policy, unions, and collective bargaining at the Economic Policy Institute, a think tank based in Washington, D.C. that provides research and analysis on economic issues as they affect working people. She is Special Counsel to Actors’ Equity, the union for stage actors and stage managers, and consults with labor organizations on a variety of union issues. Ms. Rhinehart is on the board of the National Employment Law Project, a not-for-profit organization that advocates for the rights of low-wage workers and the unemployed. She recently served on the advisory board of the Harvard Law School “Clean Slate for Worker Power” labor law project and was on the labor agency review team for the Biden-Harris transition. Until July 2018, Ms. Rhinehart was General Counsel of the national AFL-CIO, a federation of 55 national and international labor unions, and Executive Director of the AFL-CIO Lawyers Coordinating Committee, a national organization of 2,100 union-side labor lawyers.
Mark Gaston Pearce is a visiting professor and executive director of the Georgetown University Law Center Workers’ Rights Institute. He is also a panel labor arbitrator and mediator for AAA and FMCS. Formerly a two-term board member and Chairman of the National Labor Relations Board, Mr. Pearce taught at Cornell University’s School of Industrial and Labor Relations as a visiting scholar and lecturer. A graduate of Cornell University and the State University of New York at Buffalo Law School, he has been in the practice of labor and employment law for more than four decades, first as an attorney and later as district trial specialist with the National Labor Relations Board. Mr. Pearce’s career in private practice includes co-founding the Buffalo, New York law firm Creighton, Pearce, Johnsen & Giroux, where he represented parties in matters regarding civil service, employment discrimination, collective bargaining, contract compliance, individual contract negotiation, arbitration, and NYS Taylor law prosecution. He has lectured at many universities and given continuing legal education presentations for numerous state and national bar associations, the AFL-CIO, Cornell University, and the National Labor Relations Board. Among other honors, Mr. Pearce was twice recognized as a Superlawyer by Superlawyers of America; named a Champion of Workplace Justice by the Employment Justice Center of Washington, D.C.; and placed on the National Employment Law Project Honor Roll.
Paul Murphy was appointed Regional Director of the National Labor Relations Board’s Buffalo Regional Office (Region 3) in 2017 and is currently also serving as Acting Regional Director of the Boston Regional Office (Region 1). Mr. Murphy began his career with the NLRB in 1979 as a co-op Field Examiner in Cleveland (Region 8) and returned there as a full-time employee in 1980. He transferred to Region 3 in 1982 then was promoted to Supervisory Examiner in 1997 and Region 3’s Assistant to the Regional Director in 2007. Mr. Murphy received his B.S. in Economics from SUNY Geneseo in 1978 and a Master’s in Industrial and Labor Relations from Cornell University’s School of Industrial and Labor Relations in 1980.
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