The LERA-Maine Chapter was created to foster the best possible climate and conditions in employment and labor relations in Maine through the exchange of information and ideas among labor, management, neutrals, public officials and academics. We do this through our educational networking lunches and an annual conference. ALL ARE WELCOME!
Learn more about our history below.
Membership
Annual member dues is $25.00.
Click HERE to join.
Please contact LERA-Maine (Annalee Rosenblatt, Treasurer: AZR5209@aol.com) if you have a financial barrier that would keep you from joining as limited scholarships may be available.
Meetings
Meetings take place four times a year in January, March, May & November. There is also an all day Annual Conference that has been held every year since 2011, but was discontinued in 2020 due to the COVID pandemic. We are planning for an Annual Conference in 2023. Stay tuned for more info!
CONFERENCE LOCATION:
Italian Heritage Center
40 Westland Avenue
Portland, Maine 04102
How did LERA-Maine get started?
LERA Maine developed from two earlier organizations that sponsored labor relations meetings where management, labor, and labor neutrals met to discuss labor matters of common concern. The first was started on or about 2005 by former Maine Labor Relations Board mediator John Alfano. Those meetings were held at the University of Southern Maine, University of New England, and Augusta, and were formatted similar to the current LERA meetings. Later Sheila Mayberry and Alfano developed a formal unaffiliated organization which sponsored the meetings until 2007.
On June 15, 2007, the organizational meeting for LERA Maine took place at which the members accepted new by-laws and voted to seek affiliation with the National LERA. On September 24, 2007 the membership approved the new organization, LERA Maine, affiliated with the National LERA.
LERA Maine continued to meet regularly on the second Monday of January, March, May and November. On September 16, 2011 LERA Maine sponsored its first Annual Conference with the National LERA President Gordan Pavey as the featured speaker. LERA Maine has continued to sponsor the Annual Conferences which are the only labor meetings of its kind in the State. LERA Maine continues to be a place where labor, management, mediators, and arbitrators meet as colleagues to discuss issues of mutual concern.
About LERA
The Labor and Employment Relations Association is a singular organization of professionals interested in industrial relations and human resources. If you are a professional or an academic in the field of industrial relations and human resources, we invite you to join the National LERA. The National LERA organization provides a network of IR and HR practitioners and academics who share their knowledge and insight through regular LERA publications and at LERA meetings twice a year. LERA was founded in 1947 as the IRRA (Industrial Relations Research Association).