A Brief History of the Texas Labor Management Conference

Texas Labor-Management Conference Mission

To provide an annual forum for labor and management leaders in the state of Texas with the theme of

“Planning Together Today To Meet Challenges Together Tomorrow”

A Brief History of the TX Labor-Management Conference

An organization dedicated to the cohesive environment of labor and management leaders within Texas began organizing conferences in the mid-1980s.  The objective was to encourage more collaborative and cooperative relationships between the two as they confronted issues of mutual concern.  In the 1990s, this organization also began sponsoring similar L-M conferences at the statewide and regional levels throughout the U.S. 

At approximately the same time as this organization was creating forums for representative leaders from labor and management, the University of North Texas (UNT) was also experiencing success in sponsoring similar conferences in conjunction with their academic industrial relations program.  In 1998, The UNT and the originating organization realized there were similar interests and joined forces to create the first combined private, public and federal sectors’ conference for organizational leaders from L-M relations and the collective bargaining community across Texas.  The conference was held in Dallas and was attended by more than 100 labor and management participants as well as several dispute resolution neutrals. 

Due to the success of the first conference, attendance at the 1999 conference doubled to almost 200 participants. Following the 1999 event, Conference Board of Directors’ members agreed to relocate the conference to San Antonio to encourage even greater participation.  In year 2000, well over 200 labor-management leaders and dispute resolution neutrals from across Texas attended the 3-day event.

In 2002, the Alamo Federal Executive Board joined the Board of Directors as the TXLM Conference Executive Administrator and Treasurer.   Board of Directors’ membership has increased from its first year of approximately 10 people to well over 30 active members today.  Members include private sector, public sector and federal sector officials from labor and management as well as neutrals from mediation and arbitration.

Beginning in 2003, with joint recommendations from both organizations, the Board of Directors decided to have each succeeding annual conference chaired and co-chaired respectively by representatives from labor and management, with positions rotating each year. The Board of Directors continued to grow and in 2017 the Executive Advisory Board was created to provide guidance and make recommendations as needed to the full Board at the monthly meetings.

The conference serves as a showcase L-M forum and has increasingly become a premiere networking and education event for both labor and management leaders.  L-M leaders, teams, and neutrals are all encouraged to attend to learn about and discuss current critical topics in the L-M field.  Our focus is to provide up-to-date information and practical tools.. Our mission is to honor the path and accomplishments of our Hall of Fame pioneers and to provide a robust forum for developing trailblazers for the times ahead.