The 2025 Labor Relations Institute (LRI) is in the books. Here we give you a few highlights from the engaging and wide-ranging conference.

499 attendees made their way to Yakima for LRI from every corner of the state. LRI is one of AWC’s most popular conferences, and we’re happy that so many of our members, associate members, and fellow public servants from outside the city family continue to find it so valuable year after year. Thank you to the many state and local government HR professionals who were able to make the trip, whether it was your first time or you are an LRI regular. We hope you had a great conference, and we look forward to seeing you again next year!

Please let us know if you have ideas for topics for next year’s Labor Relations Institute, scheduled for May 6-8, 2026. You can send those ideas to us here.

And now, on to the top things we learned this year at LRI:

1. A different way to approach conflicts with Dr. Kelly: LRI’s featured speaker Dr. Alonzo Kelly gave a powerful presentation focused on reducing conflict and using accountability as a tool to put ourselves in a position to explain a situation rather than using it as a weapon to wield against others. Attendees were urged to avoid using words of judgment, which cause conflict, and were instead urged to ask for the other party’s understanding of a situation – that way they can be “correct” in their subjective understanding, and you can build from there to complete their understanding.
2. Artificial intelligence continues to grow in use: Several sessions touched on the growing use of AI in the world of HR and labor relations from using AI as a tool to enhance productivity, to the impacts that AI could have on the future of work. A key part of that discussion was over proposals to make the decision to use AI a mandatory subject of public sector bargaining and how that could impact collective bargaining and management rights going forward.
3. Once again, leave laws remain a hot topic: Understanding leave law is a perpetual hot topic for HR staff at LRI, with a seemingly endless and ever changing labyrinth of intersecting leave laws to navigate. This is especially true this year, with one of Washington’s signature state-level leave programs – Paid Family & Medical Leave) undergoing significant changes in how PFML and federal Family & Medical Leave Act leave interact. In 2025, we once again had the experts over at Summit Law available to help attendees understand the puzzle of how to apply leave laws at the state and local government level.
4. Leading between the lines: LRI speaker Jennifer Bouman-Steagall of Red Kite Employment Law led a great session challenging managers to lead their teams more effectively. Attendees learned that leaders should approach their teams ready to ask three main questions: 1. What does the leader want? (i.e. setting clear expectations), 2. How can the leader help? (providing tools, resources, and support), and finally, 3. What did the leader get? (reviewing observed behaviors or performance to help next time).
5. Summit Law continues to hit the mark on new HR/LR developments in 2025: Summit Law’s always popular Q&A Sesson on the opening afternoon of the conference addressed a number of important issues facing local governments in 2025, including implementing recent legislative changes, the changing landscape of DEI, tort claims pre-filing requirements, AI use in hiring, and much more.

You can check out our photos of the 2025 LRI conference here.

Thanks to all those that made the 2025 LRI a success, including our speakers, exhibitors, and sponsors. We’d also like to offer a special thanks to the staff at the Yakima Convention Center and staff at our hotel vendors that made LRI run so smoothly. Finally, a big thanks to the City of Yakima for continuing to host us. See you next year!