Please join us for this VLERA event!

The U.S. Labor Relations System’s Existential Crisis: The End of Pluralism?

Date and Time

October 13, 2026, 7:00 pm Eastern 

Program

This presentation will explore the history of the foundational ideas of the U.S. labor relations system, using historical examples from Minneapolis from the mid-thirties and the passage of the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA) in 1935, through the recent anti-ICE events. The NLRA era is premised on pluralism – a belief system in which conflict should be managed in ways that balance competing interests rather than systematically favoring one side. This implies a respect not only for organizational performance, but also for employee well-being and rights. A consideration of pluralist institutions now facing existential questions leads to an open discussion of what comes next for labor relations and the labor movement after the Trump presidency.

Presenter

John Budd, Ph.D.

John Budd, Ph.D., is the immediate past President of LERA, and currently serves as the chair of the LERA National Chapter Advisory Council. Over his more than 35 years of membership with LERA (formerly Industrial Relations Research Association), Professor Budd has remained committed to ensuring our chapters meet the needs of our membership, including his work as a co-founder of the North Star Chapter in 2024. He is always interested in feedback from our members and Chapter leadership!

In addition to his long tenure with LERA, Professor Budd is a Professor of Work and Organizations in the University of Minnesota’s Carlson School of Management, where he holds the Industrial Relations Land Grant Chair. He is a graduate of Colgate University and earned a Ph.D. degree in economics from Princeton University. Professor Budd is the author of Employment with a Human Face: Balancing Efficiency, Equity, and Voice (Cornell University Press), Labor Relations: Striking a Balance (McGraw Hill), Invisible Hands, Invisible Objectives: Bringing Workplace Law and Public Policy into Focus (with Stephen Befort, Stanford University Press), The Thought of Work (Cornell University Press), and numerous journal articles. Professor Budd is a recipient of the Richard A. Lester Prize for the Outstanding Book in Labor Economics and Industrial Relations, the Melvin Lurie Labor-Management Cooperation Prize, and the James G. Scoville Best International / Comparative Industrial Relations Paper Award.

Following the presentation and Q&A, we will have a short VLERA Chapter meeting.

Location and Registration

Virtual

Register below, link will be provided the day of the presentation.

Cost

No cost for registration.