Session Details

Plenary Descriptions

Plenary I:  The Power of Grounded Research

A roundtable discussion on the importance of research and its role in advancing shared prosperity. Grounded in research, UC Berkeley Professor Emeritus Harley Shaiken predicted in the early 1990s the devastating impacts of NAFTA and helped galvanize congressional opposition. Shaiken, PSEA Assistant Director of Research Dan Mercer, and KRC research staff will discuss the significance of KRC research - past, present, and future.

Plenary II: From Lagging to Leading: Building Pennsylvania’s Pathways to High-Paying Careers

Pennsylvania lags neighboring and other states in providing career and technical education to high school students and in college affordability. In this plenary, Deputy Secretary Patricia Blumenauer and others will review recent progress on CTE and apprenticeships and explore how to translate support from Gov. Shapiro and bipartisan legislators into systemic change at a scale that allows Pennsylvania to leapfrog other states. 

Plenary III: Achieving Real Protection of the Right to Unionize in Pennsylvania

Former NLRB General Counsel Jennifer Abruzzo will open this session with a keynote on the importance of strengthening union rights and the opportunities to do so in the U.S. A panel of national experts - including former CWA President Larry Cohen and David Madland, Senior Adviser of the American Worker Project at the Center for American Progress - will then discuss model state legislation and ways to strengthen sectoral bargaining.

Plenary IV: Where Do We Go From Here?

This plenary will open with a live virtual keynote from AFT President Randi Weingarten, followed by a discussion with Matt Barron, Director of Civic Participation at the Heinz Endowments and KRC Executive Director Bernie Gallagher. This closing session will focus on strategies to increase the impact of KRC and its partners, including a hub-and-spoke model that combines KRC's statewide team with additional research capacity in multiple cities and regions.

Workshop Descriptions

The Next Frontier for Unions in PA Public Higher Education

With the unionization of PSU faculty, virtually all faculty in PA public higher education are now unionized. This workshop will consider how PA unions can leverage their combined strength to advance bargaining, further organizing, and public policy. Ian Gavigan, HELU; APSCUF Vice President Kara Laskoski; and others.

KRC’s Partnership with Education Labor

KRC has conducted extensive research documenting the downsides of taxpayer-funded vouchers, supporting investment in smaller classes, defending public sector pensions, limiting the subcontracting of support services, promoting adequate and equitable K-12 funding, and documenting two-tier pay in PA public higher education. This workshop will review that research, how PA's education unions have used it, and research priorities for the future. Monet Reilly, PSEA UniServ Representative, Dan Mercer, PSEA Assistant Director of Research; Laura Boyce, Teach Plus PA Executive Director and others.

Putting AI to Work for Workers: Protecting Public Sector Jobs

This workshop will examine the challenges AI presents for workers and unions. Following a presentation public sector unions will discuss efforts to negotiate protections so that AI is deployed to increase productivity rather than reduce the workforce. Political and Legislative Director of AFSCME Council 13, Michael Maguire, SEIU 668 President Steve Cantanese; and others.

KRC Pittsburgh: Building Regional Research Power

KRC has recently expanded its Pittsburgh-based staff to deepen research on the city of Pittsburgh, Allegheny County, and southwestern Pennsylvania. The workshop will highlight early progress by KRC Pittsburgh and explore how adding research capacity in other PA regions could help spread effective policies and expand KRC's statewide impact. Matt Barron, Director of Civic Participation at the Heinz Endowments; James Reid, Allegheny County Deputy Chief of Staff for Public Policy; Diana Polson, KRC Pittsburgh Policy & Research Director; Jake Pawlak, KRC Pittsburgh Director of Strategic Policy Initiatives.

Living Wage for All

This workshop will examine the national Living Wage for All movement, progress to date in Pennsylvania, and opportunities to advance the movement further across the state. Jennifer Disla, National Deputy Director at One Fair Wage; Laura Nevitt, Executive Director of Keystone Progress Education Fund; Felicity Williams, Executive Director of the Pennsylvania Policy Center.

Pathways to Union Upsurge: Sectoral Organizing in PA and What Each of Us Can Do

This workshop will highlight examples of sectoral organizing in Pennsylvania at Starbucks, in health care, and in higher education. It will explore how state lawmakers, labor allies - including those in faith and environmental communities - and KRC research can help sectoral organizing efforts succeed at scale. David Madland, Senior Adviser of the American Worker Project at the Center for American Progress and others pending.

Building Pennsylvania’s Blue-Green Future

Long shaped by fossil fuel industries, Pennsylvania is now home to several promising blue-green coalition-building efforts supported by research that seeks to grow good union jobs while accelerating the transition to a net-zero economy. Labor and nonprofit leaders will reflect on progress to date and identify research and policy priorities that can sustain that progress. Rob Bair, President of the PA State Building and Construction Trades; Amanda Woodrum, Co-Director of ReImagine Appalachia; Katie Blume, Legislative Director, Conservation Voters of Pennsylvania; William Paul Haalilio Reeves Ferran, PA United, and others.

Funding Pennsylvania’s Future: Fair Revenue for State and Local Communities

As federal funding cuts, including cuts to Medicaid and SNAP, take effect in 2027, lawmakers will face growing pressure to replace lost support and address a structural deficit expected to reach $6.7 billion in FY 2026-27, according to PA's Independent Fiscal Office. KRC researchers will present options for raising revenue at the state and local levels - including approaches for struggling rural and urban communities - while reducing income and property taxes for working families. Diana Polson, KRC Pittsburgh Policy & Research Director; Jake Pawlak, KRC Pittsburgh Director of Strategic Policy Initiatives; and Bernie Gallagher, Executive Director of KRC.

Drilling Down on Union Avoidance Tactics - Examples from Higher Ed

Employers use a range of legal and illegal tactics to discourage or deny workers union representation. Speakers with first-hand experience will discuss outdated legal language defining 'union workers' and other tactics used to impede unionization in PA public and private higher education. The session will also explore effective approaches to overcoming such avoidance tactics. Chris Palles, Tahir Haideri, Sam Shriver, Wence Valentin III