XVIII. IRRA ANNUAL REPORTS

IRRA EXECUTIVE BOARD MEETING
Friday, June 21, 2002
National Press Club, Washington, D.C.

     John F. Burton, Jr., president of the IRRA, called the executive board meeting to order on June 21, 2002, at 12:00 p.m. at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C. Present were president elect and editor in chief Paula B. Voos, past president Maggie Jacobsen, National Chapter Advisory Committee Chair Marlene Heyser, and board members: Ronald Blackwell, Douglas Gamble, Teresa Ghilarducci, Cynthia Gramm, Richard Hurd, Anthony Oliver, Dennis Rocheleau, Stephen Sleigh, John Truesdale, and Arnold Zack. Also in attendance were: Peter Feuille, secretary-treasurer; Paula Wells, executive director; and Suzi Millas, assistant to the executive director. Absent board members were: Nancy Biagini, Dan Cornfield, Sanford Jacoby, Arthur Schwartz, and Tia Schneider Denenberg.

     Guests included James Auerbach, Washington, D.C., IRRA Chapter President, and David Lipsky, former IRRA Mission Committee Member.

     John Burton introduced James Auerbach and David Lipsky. He introduced Cynthia Gramm as Kate Bronfenbrenner's replacement on the board.

Approval of the Minutes--The minutes of the Atlanta, GA, meeting held January 3, 2002, were reviewed. A motion was made by Arnold Zack to amend the minutes by removing a phrase. Ron Blackwell seconded the change. The board approved the minutes unanimously.

2002 National Policy Forum Report--John Burton provided a brief history describing how the National Policy Forum had evolved from a spring meeting held by local chapters on a rotational basis, to an annual meeting organized by the national office and held in Washington, D.C., each June. Spring meetings typically drew chapter members and papers from these meetings were published, while the current June meetings draw a more nationally based group of attendees and no papers are published. The First National Policy Forum was held in 1999 and was 2 1/2 days with sessions on Saturday, the Second NPF was 2 days, the Third NPF was 1 day, and the Fourth was 1 1/2 days. Maggie Jacobsen added that the IRRA was a rich resource providing a valuable network for practitioners and Capitol Hill attendees.

     Paula Wells discussed the budget including lower NPF attendance, sponsor contributions, and hotel expenses all contributing to a loss for the NPF. This was the first year that the IRRA had paid for room rental, totaling over $7K. Staff expenses (overhead) based on time spent on planning the NPF total $25K. John Burton reiterated that hotel availability in June was lacking and the National Press Club offered the number and types of rooms that we needed, as well as offering an excellent location for the Forum.

2003 National Policy Forum--John discussed several options regarding holding the NPF: 1) holding the NPF every year (status quo), 2) alternating between Washington, D.C., and Chicago (with FMCS), and 3) dropping the NPF. Various issues were discussed relating to the Forum, including past and future topics, possibly including sub-themes instead of a single theme; the anomaly of the 2002 meeting due to the post 9-11-01 economy; location (Washington, D.C., possibly Chicago, other); lack of government participation and the possible need to coordinate NPF topics with current Capitol Hill issues, hot topics in the media, or the election cycle; promotion of the NPF; planning time, schedules, and opportunity costs for the national office and the organization; the lack of participation by the general membership in the NPF and the lack of perceived benefit for the membership. The possibility of holding only one meeting per year, and the need for the IRRA to hold a policy oriented meeting in order to draw practitioners were discussed.

     A motion was made by Teresa Ghilarducci not to hold the National Policy Forum in 2003, and to create a planning committee for the 2004 NPF. Arnold Zack seconded the motion. Paula Voos added that a board meeting should be held each year whether or not the NPF is held, most likely in Washington, D.C. The motion was unanimously passed. John then requested Paula Voos and Marlene Heyser serve as co-chairs for the 2004 NPF Program Committee.

     Some other business relating to the 2002 NPF was discussed when Ron Blackwell mentioned that Jon Hiatt, AFL-CIO, and Ralph Craviso, Lucent Technologies, were invited to serve as discussants on a panel featuring Solicitor Scalia as the speaker, and then were uninvited at the request of the Solicitor. John Burton explained that the Solicitor had not received our communication that a discussant had been invited and had expressed a possible hesitancy to participate under those new conditions. Burton stated he made a judgment call as chair to withdraw the discussants, as the Solicitor was not aware of the format when he accepted the invitation to be featured luncheon speaker. Burton pointed out Scalia had agreed to accept questions following his speech. A motion to provide guidance to future Presidents was made by Arnold Zack, to read, "If we extend invitations to individuals and announce that they [will] have commentators, and they accept the invitation, we expect that the invitation be honored on the terms under which it was extended." Maggie Jacobsen seconded the motion. John called for a vote and all members accepted the motion.

Other Business

University of Illinois and GEO discussion--Burton introduced David Lipsky who had chaired the 1997 Mission Committee. He was asked to discuss the issue of the IRRA Mission Statement in relationship to the UI/GEO situation. John Burton then announced the UI/GEO dispute had recently been resolved by both parties.

     David stated that the Mission Committee concluded in 1997 that as a matter of rule and policy it was not a good idea for the IRRA to take a partisan position on anything. Arnold Zack made a motion that if future issues regarding labor disputes arise that the board should encourage the parties to resolve the dispute consistent with the last paragraph of our constitution. The motion was not seconded. There was a discussion as to the question of the partisan nature of the earlier proposed letter to UI/GEO, with some members viewing it as a non-partisan statement of our organization in relation to the mission, and others viewing it as partisan in support of the organizing group (GEO). The board did not make any specific decision as to the possible future use of the letter or a similar letter. John thanked David Lipsky for his attendance.

Program Committee Report--55th Annual Meeting--Jim Auerbach discussed the plans for the 55th Annual Meeting to be held at the Hyatt Regency Capitol Hill, January 2-5, 2003. The meeting starts with 2 pre-conference sessions from the NCAC and Washington, D.C., Chapter on January 2. The maximum allowed sessions will be held, 27 formal sessions, plus distinguished panels on Friday and a distinguished speaker session on Saturday featuring John Monks and possibly John Sweeney. Auerbach reported seven interest sections will hold meetings, as well as the Ph.D. student workshop and the Executive Board Meeting on January 2, the IRRA Welcome Reception on January 3, the Presidential Luncheon and General Membership Meeting on January 4, 2003. John thanked Jim for his efforts, and in his absence, thanked co-vice chair George Strauss for his many efforts.

2002 Nominating Committee Appointment--John briefly discussed the general requirements of the nominating committee, including specific representation. A chair who was a member of the previous year's committee, Morris Kleiner, agreed to serve as chair. John asked for a motion to accept the members of the nominating committee; the motion was made by Arnold Zack and seconded by Cynthia Gramm. All members voted in favor of the motion.

National Chapter Advisory Committee--Marlene Heyser discussed the NCAC meeting held June 20, 2002. She specifically mentioned possible changes to the national website including an event template for chapters and the topic of chapter grants and the provision of these grants. Cynthia Gramm asked about the possibility of paying chapter dues at the time of national dues payment. She thought that this provision existed in the past. Paula Wells discussed the implications of this provision for the chapters including needing additional staff to handle the accounting challenges this would cause. The National Office continues to search for affordable possible solutions.

Report of the Editor in Chief--Paula Voos discussed several issues. The first was the refereed papers competition, and the limiting factor of the 10-page limit on papers submitted for this competition. She motioned that the limit be extended to 20-25 pages, increasing the burden for the committee slightly and posing a slight cost increase, but attracting more and better quality papers from younger academics as well as facilitating publication with other groups. John asked for a vote from the board, and all were in favor of the motion. She also asked that the board add the Labor Studies Journal to the list of other journals in which members can publish their papers. The board agreed.

     The second topic was input by the board relating to future possible research volume topics. She briefly discussed the call for topics/proposals and provided a list of possible future topics that were brainstormed at earlier meetings. Arnold Zack added the topic "Ethical Issues in Dispute Resolution in the Employment Field, both in the Labor Management and the Employer Promulgator." She asked board members to send her an email with other ideas.

     John presented Paula Voos with an award of recognition for her many years of service as Editor in Chief of the IRRA. Paula will step down as Editor on September 1, 2002, in order to serve as President in 2003.

Report of the Secretary/Treasurer and Executive Director--Peter Feuille discussed the budget history, reminding board members that while the deficit exists for 2002, we hold a large pool of cash in CDs. He stated that membership statistics were of some concern, but would be deferred to the strategic membership committee appointed by John Burton. Paula Wells described the budget estimate and the expensing of the Sloan Grant in 2001. She stated that the IRRA would need to explore different revenue sources such as other grants, fund raising, and other membership drives. Some cost savings may be realized in 2003 with online publications, but not enough to balance the deficits that face us in the upcoming year. Across the board, membership is decreasing.

     John discussed the HR Network's connection with the Sloan Foundation, and possible future programs might be planned. Rose Batt and Tom Kochan would assist in this process.

New Business

Appointment of Special Strategic Membership Committee--John Burton discussed the trend of declining membership since 1982. He appointed a committee that met Friday morning and included Maggie Jacobsen, Paula Voos, Marlene Heyser, Greg Woodhead, Peter Feuille, Paula Wells, Bill Canak, and John Burton. They discussed previously mentioned suggestions for improving membership. Committee members each took an area of focus--for instance, Paula Voos would explore publications and avenues to explore regarding IRRA publications. John asked board members if they would be willing to assist with non-renewing members in attempts to get them back into the membership. Paula Voos asked Paula Wells to send an email to the board with an attachment including the renewal notice for members to fill out and send in to the national office. Paula Wells stated that they would send the list of non-renewing members, as well as the letter and dues notice, to board members.

Adjournment--John Burton adjourned the meeting at 2:14 p.m. The next meeting of the Executive Board will be held Thursday, January 2, 2003, at 6:00 p.m. in the Hyatt Regency Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C. Dinner will be served.