Worker's Rights Amendments One Year Later

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) and 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 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.  He has also 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.

Benjamin Gehrt Related Seminars and Products

Partner

Clark Baird Smith LLP

Ben Gehrt focuses his practice on traditional labor law and employment litigation. He has experience in grievance and interest arbitration cases, contract negotiations, and unfair labor practice charges. Ben also represents clients in EEO and wage-hour litigation. Prior to practicing law, Ben worked as a Plant Manager for a food manufacturing company in suburban Chicago. His experience as a supervisor and a manager gives him a unique perspective that helps him relate to the day-to-day challenges our clients face while managing people.

Ben has represented public and private sector clients in contract negotiations and interest arbitration. In those settings, he has helped clients obtain significant cost savings through changes in staffing levels, wage schedules, retiree insurance benefits, sick leave buyback benefits, and work rule changes, among other things.

Ben is also an experienced litigator. In addition to representing clients in grievance arbitration proceedings, Ben has also litigated cases in the state and federal trial courts. His litigation experience includes cases involving allegations of discrimination, employment cases alleging deprivation of constitutional rights, wage-hour disputes, and disputes over employee benefits under both ERISA and Illinois state law. In addition to his trial court experience, Ben has successfully represented clients in the state and federal courts of appeal.

Additionally, Ben has developed a niche practice at Clark Baird Smith LLP, counseling the firm’s clients on a wide variety of wage and hour issues under both state and federal law. In addition to handling the traditional wage payment questions that arise with private sector businesses, Ben is skilled at answering questions that are unique to the public sector, such as questions about compensatory time, 7(k) work periods, pay for canine handlers, and duty shift trades, to name a few.

Ben has also authored and contributed to numerous books and articles regarding labor and employment law, including contributions to the NPELRA Legal Corner, The Developing Labor Law (BNA), How To Take A Case Before The NLRB (8th Ed. BNA), and a chapter in Municipal Law, a reference book published by the American Bar Association’s Section on State and Local Government Law.

Ben was selected to the 2016 Illinois Rising Stars list. Only 2.5% of all attorneys in the State of Illinois were selected.

Marc Poulos Related Seminars and Products

Executive Director of the Indiana, Illinois, Iowa Foundation for Fair Contracting (III FFC)

IIIFFC

Marc Poulos is the Executive Director of the III FFC. After spending several years in the trades while attending night school, he graduated from Northeastern Illinois University with a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science. He went on to receive his Juris Doctor and a certificate in Labor and Employment Law from Chicago-Kent College of Law. While in law school, he clerked for the International Union of Operating Engineers, Local 150 Legal Department and later became IUOE Local 150’s Associate General Counsel.

Marc is a proud Local 150 member and sits on the Board of Directors for the Illinois Prevailing Wage Council, the National Alliance for Fair Contracting and Midwest Operating Engineers Information Technologies. Marc is admitted to practice law in the State of Illinois, Washington D.C. Court of Appeals, United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois and United States District Court for the Northern District of Indiana. He is a member of the American Bar Association, Illinois State Bar Association and Chicago Bar Association.