In May 2018, the Public Employment Relations Board, the Scheinman Institute on Dispute Resolution of Cornell University's School of Industrial and Labor Relations, and the New York State Bar Association presented a conference celebrating the 50th Anniversary of the enactment of the Public Employees' Fair Employment Act, better known as the Taylor Law.

This book contains the papers submitted for the conference and memorializes the plenary sessions, both by presenting the lightly edited transcripts of the sessions themselves, and the papers, several of which have been revised to address the dialogue between the participants and others which have been revised to address developments since the conference. Contributors include practitioners and scholars who discuss the Taylor Law's significant contributions to public sector labor relations in New York and examine and assess areas where the Taylor Law's effectiveness has been weakened. The participants also document and analyze emerging and alternative legal and public policy models and frameworks.