You are invited to attend a Global Forum on Employment Relations to be held in Sydney on 30 March 2011.  The Forum will focus on recent trends in employment relations in key economies North America, Europe and Asia and their implications for Australia. The Forum will also provide an opportunity to review the effects of recent reforms in Australia in the context of the re-elected Labour government from a wide range of employer and union perspectives. 

The Global Forum in 2011 follows the highly successful World Congress on Industrial Relations held in Sydney in 2009 attended by more than 900 participants from over 40 countries. A number of keynote speakers from that congress are returning to Sydney to review international changes which have occurred since the Global Financial Crisis and its aftermath. The forum will consist of a combination of presentations and panel discussions by leading international and local experts.

Keynote speakers who have accepted invitations to speak at the Forum include:


•Professor Thomas Kochan, Sloan School of Management at MIT in Cambridge, USA who has served as an adviser to Presidents Bill Clinton and Barack Obama


•Professor William Brown, Master of Darwin College and former Head of Economics at Cambridge University who has served on Britain’s Minimum Wage Commission


•Professor Janice Bellace, Wharton School of Management, University of Pennsylvania and President of the International Labour and Employment Relations Association.


•Dr Peter Auer, Senior Fellow at the International Institute for Labour Studies in Geneva and former Head of the European Employment Observatory in Berlin, Germany.


•Professor Mia Ronnmar, Faculty of Law at the University of Lund in Sweden who has recently published a book on Industrial Relations in the European Union.


•Dr Chang-Hee Lee, Senior Adviser on Employment and Labour Relations issues for the ILO in China who formerly served as the Asian Regional Adviser in Bangkok.


•Ged Kearney, President, Australian Council of Trade Unions. She was previously Federal Secretary of the Australian Nursing Federation, one of Australia’s largest and fastest growing unions. 


•Peter Anderson, Chief Executive, Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry. Peter represents Australian business regionally and globally at international forums such as the OECD, the International Organisation of Employers and on the Governing Body of the International Labour Organisation (ILO) in Geneva, Switzerland.


•Heather Ridout Chief Executive, Australian Industry Group. Heather holds a large number of key national positions on bodies which include the National Workplace Relations Consultative Committee, Infrastructure Australia and Skills Australia and the Henry Review of Taxation.


Leading Australian specialists in employment relations from General Motors Holden, Qantas Airways, employers associations, trade unions and universities will examine the implications of international developments for Australia and review the effects of recent industrial relations reforms of the Gillard Labour government.

The Global Forum is jointly sponsored by the International Labour and Employment Relations Association (ILERA) based in Geneva, the Journal of Industrial Relations (JIR) published by the Industrial Relations Association of Australia (IRSA)  and the Workplace Research Centre (WRC) at the University of Sydney. 

The forum is now open for registrations with a limited amount of early bird tickets available at $450 until the 31st of December (Standard rate $550 after this date). To book and for more information please go to www.erglobalforum.com  

We advise you to book early for this important forum.

With best regards,

Janice Bellace 
Professor, University of Pennsylvania
President, ILERA

Russell Lansbury                                                                             
Emeritus Professor, University of Sydney 
Immediate Past President, ILERA