Opening Plenary: The Coming Storm: The Impact of Federal Action on Illinois Labor

Robert Bruno Related Seminars and Products

Professor & Director, Labor Education Program (Chicago)

University of Illinois Chicago

Robert Bruno is Director of the Labor Education Program and a Professor of Labor and Employment, as well as the director of the Project for Middle Class Renewal in the School of Labor and Employment Relations at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign.

In addition to publishing numerous scholarly articles on a diverse range of labor relations subjects, Professor Bruno has also co-authored numerous research reports on labor unions, workplace practices and labor and employment policy topics.

He is also the author of five books; Steelworker Alley: How Class Works In Youngstown (1999), Reforming the Chicago Teamsters: The Story of Local 705 (2003), Justified by Work: The Meaning of Faith in Chicago’s Working-Class Churches (2008), A Fight for the Soul of Public Education: The Story of the Chicago Teachers Strike (co-author 2016), which was awarded the United Association for Labor Education Best Book award in 2017 and his latest, What Work Is (2024).

Professor Bruno has given expert testimony to the US House Committee on Education and the Workforce, as well as the Illinois House and Senate Committees on Labor and Commerce.  Dr. Bruno has served on the Illinois Future of Work Task Force and currently serves on the University of Illinois Urbana-Champagne, Labor and Employment Relations Climate Jobs Institute Advisory Board Chair. He is also the Chair of the Big Ten Universities’ Labor Studies Group.

Dr. Bruno has been a frequent commentator on labor relations for both regional and national media and has served as a commentator for numerous newspapers.

Professor Bruno has taught many different labor relations courses, specializing in collective bargaining, labor history and American politics, as well as given numerous public presentations on labor relations.

He is the co-editor of Labor Studies Journal and is an executive board member of the United Association for Labor Education and Chicago Chapter of the Labor Employment Relations Association.

Dr. Bruno is the 2025 winner of the Labor and Employment Relation Association, Susan C. Eaton Scholar-Practitioner Award. The award is given annually to a member of the Association who has achieved distinction as both a practitioner and a scholar in the field of labor and employment relations.

James Daniels Related Seminars and Products

Deputy General Counsel – Labor Relations

Illinois Department of Central Management Services

James Daniels is the Deputy Director of Labor Relations at the State of Illinois’ Central Management Services. He is responsible for managing the labor initiatives for the forty agencies under the office of the Governor, which include the negotiation of State union contracts, the resolution of statewide grievances, and the disposition of issues arising from the creation of new agencies, legislative transfers, layoffs, closures, and the implementation of new statewide policies such as remote work, health insurance and artificial intelligence. Previously he served as counsel for the Fraternal Order of Police Labor Council, in which position he negotiated over a hundred collective bargaining agreements and litigated numerous  grievances throughout the State of Illinois, to include many interest arbitrations for police, correctional and deputy units. He has also successfully represented his clients in the Fifth District Appellate Court. He brings with him a wealth of experience from both the union and management perspective, as well as a good working relationship with the representatives of the dozens of unions that represent State employees.

James is a graduate of John Marshall Law School. He currently lives and works in Springfield, Illinois.

Mike Newman Related Seminars and Products

Deputy Director

AFSCME Council 31

Mike Newman is the Deputy Director of AFSCME Council 31 and an AFSCME International Vice President. He is also a Vice President of the Illinois AFL-CIO. Newman joined Council 31 as Legislative Director in 1982, playing an important role in the passage of public sector collective bargaining laws.

AFSCME Council 31 represents more than 90,000 active and retired employees of state, county and city governments, state universities, local school districts and nonprofit agencies across Illinois.  Newman has been involved in every facet of the union’s work, including overseeing the negotiation and administration of hundreds of collective bargaining agreements and supervising the union’s legal and contract administration teams.

Newman previously taught in the Labor Education Program at the University of Illinois where he also earned a Master of Labor and Industrial Relations degree. Prior to that, Newman was a union organizer in the garment industry in the Southeastern United States.