NW Collaborative
Futures Conference

De-construction Ahead: Examining How Technology Can Break Down Boundaries in the Workplace for BIPOC

A recent study revealed that about 97% of Black employees who are currently working remotely want a hybrid or full-time remote work model moving forward, compared to 79% of their white peers. Office-centric work has been deeply uncomfortable for many minority workers, who are subjected to microaggressions and discrimination, despite decades of efforts to combat this phenomenon. This presentation will hit 5 key points with observations and strategies for moving forward in this new environment. Pandemic concerns aside, work is probably not going back to the way it was, but more importantly, this presentation will examine whether it should.

Speaker: Commissioner Brenda D. Pryor
Mediator, Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service

Brenda currently serves as a mediator with the FMCS where she assists parties in the private, public and federal sectors in contract negotiations, in grievance mediation and in resolving workplace disputes. Prior to her career at FMCS, she served as an Associate General Counsel at Southern Illinois University.  Additionally, Brenda spent a decade as Legal Counsel for the Cook County College Teachers Union, Local 1600. Brenda also has extensively presented on a variety of subjects at the national level for the ABA, the AFL-CIO’s LCC, and served as a Co-Chair of the ABA’s ADR in Labor & Employment Law Subcommittee.

Speaker: Commissioner Stephanie Collier
Mediator, Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service

 Stephanie Collier is a Commissioner assigned to the Dallas field office of the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service (FMCS). In this capacity, she assists parties in the private, public and federal sectors in contract negotiations, in grievance mediation and in resolving workplace disputes.  She is available to train labor and management advocates in collective bargaining, contract administration and grievance processing, steward/supervisor relationships, labor management committee structure and process, problem solving, communication and decision making.