Mayor's Riverfront Park, 251 Mills Street, Kalamazoo, MI

Annual Membership Meeting

Mayor's Riverfront park, 251 Mills Street, Kalamazoo, MI

Guest speakers:  Kurt N. Sherwood, Attorney at Law

Topic:  Medical Marijuana

Meeting sponsor: Western Michigan University
 

Michigan's Medical Marijuana law has now been in effect for about two years. Why has the law proven so controversial and created so many problems in the workplace? Is your employer being unreasonable, or are we all simply victims of a poorly worded piece of legislation? Will our understanding of the law get better and - if so - when? We'll discuss these and other issues associated with Michigan's Medical Marijuana law.

 
Mayor's Riverfront Park, 251 Mills Street, Kalamazoo, MI

Guest speaker:  Jeff Rubleski, Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan

Topic:  Healthcare Reform

Meeting sponsor: Blue Cross Blue Shield

Jeff is a featured speaker at regional and national conferences on a variety of health benefits and personal finance topics.  He has authored several published articles on the topics of emerging consumer-directed healthcare, employee benefit trends and workplace wellness. His recently released book, The 10 Steps to Financial Wellness, is distributed by The Wellness Councils of America to organizations throughout the United States to help employees understand how to use existing employer-sponsored benefit plans to attain financial wellness in their lives. 

Jeff serves as Director of Sales Strategy for Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan.  In this capacity, he is responsible for sales strategy and new product innovation for group customers.  Jeff also works with our Office of National Healthcare Reform in communicating key reform impacts to groups and labor organizations throughout the state. 

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Mayor's Riverfront Park, 251 Mills Street, Kalamazoo, MI

Guest speaker:  Don Dettman, Arbitrator

Topic:  Arbitration Process, Expectations from both parties

Meeting sponsor: Western Michigan University Catering

A graduate of Western Michigan University and Valparaiso University Law School, Don Dettman was admitted to the Michigan Bar in 1976, and he has extensive and varied legal experience, including corporate, probate, and real estate law.  As a general practice attorney, he has represented clients in public and private education, police, fire, construction, nuclear, painters, local governments, corrections/prisons, health care, communications, auto, transportation and petroleum industries.

 Mr. Dettman added Arbitration to his resume in 1985 with the American Arbitration Association, and he also has significant arbitration and fact finding experience with the Federal Mediation & Conciliation Service, and the Employment Relations Commission.

 His candid and refreshing style will provide an insider’s look

at the concepts and practice of Arbitration.

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Mayor's Riverfront Park, 251 Mills Street, Kalamazoo, MI

Guest speaker:  Don Weaver, Greater Kalamazoo United Way

Topic:  The Labor Participation Division at your Greater Kalamazoo United Way

Meeting sponsor: Building Trades

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Western Michigan University, Bernhard Center

Biannual Tribute Dinner

Speaker: Cindy Estrada, International VP of UAW

Please join us at our biannual Tribute Dinner. If you are interested in attending please contact Torri at kalm@upjohninstitute.org

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Annual KALM Picnic

Kindleberger Park, Parchment, MI

 
W. E. Upjohn Institute for Employment Research, 300 S. Westnedge Avenue, Kalamazoo, MI

Guest speaker:  George Erickcek, Senior Regional Analyst, W. E. Upjohn Institute for Employment Research

Topic:  Economic Update

Meeting sponsor: United Auto Workers (UAW) Region 1-D

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Mayor's Riverfront Park, 251 Mills Street, Kalamazoo, MI

Guest speaker:  Fred Vocino, Labor Mediator, Michigan Bureau of Employment Relations

Topic:  Interest Based Bargaining Approach

Meeting sponsor: AFSCME Council 25

Fred will outline some of the opportunities available to Labor and Management seeking alternative approaches to collective bargaining.

Many employers and labor organizations believe that a cooperative approach to collective bargaining is more effective than the traditional adversarial approach. Cooperative bargaining is identified under several terms; “interest-based bargaining” is the more generic description. In addition to traditional mediation, the BER/MERC has adopted a collaborative approach to collective bargaining, referred to as the “Collaborative to Contract” process.

This process is intended to avoid a situation where one party wins only if the other party loses. The focus is on open and frank discussions, free exchange of information, an examination of issues, recognizing mutual and separate interests, and the use of explicit standards to evaluate options. Often the initial objective is to resolve the issues the parties face in a particular round of negotiations for a new collective agreement or unresolved grievances. Yet, improving the overall bargaining relationship on a day-to-day basis is the ultimate goal.

In most case the parties are jointly trained in the process. Where the BER provides the training, the person utilized is typically the same Labor Mediator assigned to assist the parties as a facilitator in the upcoming negotiations.

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Mayor's Riverfront Park, 251 Mills Street, Kalamazoo, MI

Guest speaker:  To be announced.

Topic:  To be announced

Mayor's Riverfront Park, 251 Mills Street, Kalamazoo, MI

Annual Membership Meeting