DETROIT (March 16, 2009) - Wayne State University Law School, in conjunction with Labor@Wayne, is pleased to announce a labor law event titled "Forum on Resuscitating and Revitalizing American Labor Law Policy: A Constructive Dialogue on Areas of Agreement" from 2 - 4 p.m. on Monday, April 6, 2009, in the Law School's Spencer M. Partrich Auditorium.
The program, sponsored by Wayne Law, will feature locally, nationally and internationally renowned labor law experts.
Wilma Liebman, chair of the National Labor Relations Board, will serve as the keynote speaker. Forum discussion facilitators include: Moderator William Mateikis, Wayne Law visiting professor of law; Joseph Canfield, attorney, NLRB, Region 7 and Wayne Law adjunct professor; and Marick Masters, director of the Douglas A. Fraser Center for Workplace Issues and Labor@Wayne. Forum panel discussants include: Elizabeth Bunn, UAW secretary-treasurer; Martin Mulloy, Ford Motor Company vice president, Labor Affairs; and Peter Pantaleo, partner, DLA Piper.
The forum is designed to initiate general, constructive dialogue on labor law policy in areas of agreement rather than highlight areas of disagreement, particularly with respect to workers' rights to organize and bargain collectively in a competitive global economy.
"Wayne Law students, faculty, alumni, and area labor law practitioners will hear from experts in the field of labor relations - a field that for too long has been too polarized to permit meaningful discussion on matters of mutual interest," Mateikis said. "Given the extraordinary times for employers, employees and employees' collective representatives, we need to focus more on how to move collaboratively forward so that we don't fall further divisively backward."
This event is free and open to the public, and parking is available for $3.50 in parking structure #1 across from the Law School on West Palmer Street. For more information, please contact the Law School Dean's Office at (313) 577-3933.
Wilma Liebman has served as a Member of the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) since November 14, 1997. She was first appointed by President Clinton and confirmed by the Senate to a five-year term that expired on December 16, 2002. She was reappointed by President Bush and confirmed by the Senate to a second term that expired on August 27, 2006 and to a third term that will expire on August 27, 2011. President Obama designated Liebman to be Chairman of the NLRB on January 20, 2009.
Prior to joining the NLRB, Liebman served for two years as Deputy Director of the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service (FMCS). She acted as the chief operations officer of this federal agency, overseeing arbitration, alternative dispute resolution, international affairs and labor-management cooperation grants programs. In addition, Liebman advised the FMCS Director on issues involving major labor disputes and participated in significant negotiations as needed.
William Mateikis is a visiting professor at Wayne Law with scholarly interests in dispute resolution, international trade law, and the effect of globalization on labor and employment law and human resource policy.
Mateikis is an experienced labor and employment lawyer, having practiced several years as inside counsel and in private practice. Most recently, he was Director, Global Trade Compliance at Honeywell International Inc., and before that was a human resources executive at Gateway Companies, Inc., General Mills, Inc., and PepsiCo.
Marick Masters teaches negotiations and conflict resolution at the University of Pittsburgh's Joseph M. Katz Graduate School of Business & College of Business Administration. He has published extensively on a wide variety of business and organizational topics in numerous disciplines. Masters serves on the editorial board of the Journal of Labor Research, edits the annual volume International Perspectives on Employment Dispute Resolution, and is the editor of the Association for Conflict Resolution Workplace Section News. He serves on the Leadership Council of the ACR Workplace Section.
Masters has had extensive administrative, consulting, and media experience. He has served as Director of MBA Programs and Associate Dean Interim of the Katz Graduate School of Business. He is a senior partner in AIM Consulting (Albright, Irr and Masters). He has consulted on a broad range of managerial issues with senior executives among numerous Fortune 500 and major public sector and nonprofit organizations. He is a frequent keynote speaker.
Martin Mulloy was appointed vice president, Labor Affairs, Ford Motor Company, effective Jan. 1, 2005. In this role, he oversees labor policy and negotiations covering the company's approximately 235,000 hourly employees worldwide. He has responsibility for health care management and the Company's collective bargaining with unions worldwide.
Prior to this assignment, Mulloy was executive director, North and South America Labor Affairs, during which time he was responsible for leading the Company's negotiating team during 2003 collective bargaining with the United Auto Workers. Throughout his career at Ford, Mulloy has held a variety of positions in labor relations and personnel planning for various divisions of the Company, including Ford Credit, Electrical Fuel Handling Division and Truck Operations. He also has served in management positions for Human Resources, including vice president, Human Resources, Ford of Australia, a position he assumed in November 1996.
Elizabeth Bunn was elected to a second term as secretary-treasurer of the UAW on June 14, 2006, at the 34th Constitutional Convention in Las Vegas. As secretary-treasurer, Bunn is the chief financial officer of the UAW and directs various administrative departments including Accounting, Auditing, Building Maintenance, Circulation, Purchasing and Strike Assistance. In addition, Bunn directs the UAW Technical, Office and Professional (TOP) Department, a post she has held since she was elected vice president of the union in 1998.
She has been a leader of bargaining teams that have achieved many collective bargaining breakthroughs. Highlights include innovative programs for families including child and elder care referral services, parental leaves for school events and the creation of sick banks that allow workers to share leave time with other workers facing family emergencies; "fair share" union representation for state employees in Indiana; improved pay equity protections for state workers in Michigan, and joint training and health and safety programs modeled on the UAW's Big 3 contracts for public sector workers. She has also been an outspoken advocate for service workers on a broad range of public policy issues.
Peter Pantaleo represents both domestic and international employers in labor, employment and civil rights matters. While Pantaleo has substantial experience litigating cases before courts, administrative agencies, and arbitration panels, the principal focus of his practice is advising employers in complex, politically sensitive labor and employment matters. He has represented employers confronted with traditional union organization as well as corporate campaigns.
Pantaleo is recognized as an authority on European Union social policy. He has lectured extensively at health care and hospitality conferences, including the American Federation of Health Systems Annual Conference on the emerging significance of corporate campaigns directed at investor-owned hospitals; American Gaming Congress on Title III of the ADA; and Institute of Directors on the European Union's Directives on Worker Participation Schemes. He is a member of the firm's U.S. Executive Committee and is the managing partner of the firm's New York office.
In 2008, he began serving a seven-year term as a member of the City University of New York board of trustees. Governor David Paterson nominated him for the post and the New York Senate confirmed the nomination.
About Wayne Law
Wayne State University Law School has educated and served the Detroit metropolitan area since its inception as Detroit City Law School in 1927. Located at 471 West Palmer Street in Detroit's re-energized historic cultural center, the Law School remains committed to student success and features modern lecture and court facilities, multi-media and distance learning classrooms, a 250-seat auditorium, and the Arthur Neef Law Library, which houses one of the nation's 40 largest legal collections. Taught by an internationally recognized and expert faculty, Wayne Law students experience a high-quality legal education via a growing array of hands-on curricular offerings, five live-client clinics, and access to well over 100 internships with local and non-profit entities each year. Its 11,000 living alumni, who work in every state of the nation and more than a dozen foreign countries, are experts in their disciplines and include leading members of the local, national and international legal communities. For more information, visit www.law.wayne.edu.