This plenary session will provide an update on recent Illinois legislative enactments that affect Illinois public employers, public employees, and the unions that represent them. A particular focus will be on the proposed labor mediation legislation currently being considered in the veto session of the General Assembly, which in intended to fill the void left by the significantly downsized FMCS.
TED CLARK is a founding partner of the law firm of Clark Baird Smith LLP. He graduated magna cum laude with a B.A. degree from Syracuse University and received a J.D. from the University of Michigan Law School. With over 50 years experience, Ted represents both public and private sector management clients with respect to a wide variety of collective bargaining and employment law matters, including mediation and interest arbitration.
Ted is a co-author with Judge Harry Edwards and Professor Charles Craver of Labor Relations Law in the Public Sector: Cases and Materials (Bobbs-Merrill 1974), the first law school textbook in the area of public sector labor relations. The fourth edition was published in 1992. For many years he taught the public sector labor law course at Northwestern University Law School. Ted has also written numerous articles and publications that have been published by such journals as the UCLA Law Review, the Journal of Law and Education, the Wisconsin Law Review, the Minnesota Law Review, the Oregon Law Review, and the Illinois Bar Journal. For the past thirty, he has been listed in the book The Best Lawyers in America. In 2005 Ted was the recipient of the Lifetime Achievement Award of the American Bar Association’s State and Local Government Committee. In 2010 Ted was the first recipient of the American Bar Association’s Arvid Anderson Public Sector Labor and Employment Law Lawyer of the Year Award.
Bob Reiter is the President of the Chicago Federation of Labor, the third largest central labor council of the national AFL-CIO. He previously served two terms as Secretary-Treasurer of the CFL from July 2010 to May 2018.
Bob is a third-generation member of the International Union of Operating Engineers Local 150. Throughout his career, he has worked as a labor attorney, an organizer, a negotiator and a lobbyist. In his role as president of the CFL, Bob serves on executive and advisory boards for labor, civic, and community organizations across Chicago and Cook County. His involvement with these organizations allows him to represent the interests of labor and protect the fundamental rights of all workers.
Bob holds a bachelor’s and master’s degree in political science from Eastern Illinois University, and a Juris Doctor degree from IIT Chicago-Kent College of Law.
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Opening Plenary: The Coming Storm: The Impact of Federal Action on Illinois Labor
Original Program Date: 11/07/2025 |
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Labor Relations and Federal Policy Impacts on Higher Education Institutions in Illinois
Original Program Date: 11/07/2025 |
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Labor Relations and the First Amendment in Times of Increasing Political Polarization
Original Program Date: 11/07/2025 |