Panel: Preparing and Presenting Grievances in Arbitration
Panel Description
This interactive panel will focus on the preparation of a case for arbitration(both discipline/discharge and contract interpretation). Experienced and sophisticated labor/management advocates and arbitrators will demonstrate how that preparation may show up(for better or for worse) in the arbitration. With the use of scenarios, the advocates and arbitrators will discuss and debate strategies and tips for effective preparation and presentation of an arbitration case in colleges and universities—public and private. The discussion among the arbitrators and advocates will include the impact of videoconferencing on the arbitration process both in the preparation for the arbitration and in the presentation of the case to the arbitrator.
Panelists Bios
William A. Herbert is Executive Director of the National Center for the Study of Collective Bargaining in Higher Education and the Professions, a Distinguished Lecturer at Hunter College and a Faculty Associate at the Roosevelt House Public Policy Institute. His scholarship focuses on labor law, history, and policy. He is a co-editor of the treatise Lefkowitz on Public Sector Labor and Employment Law and he has authored book chapters and articles on public sector labor issues, and other subjects. Prior to joining the Hunter College faculty, Mr. Herbert was Deputy Chair and Counsel to the New York State Public Employment Relations Board (PERB). Before his tenure at PERB, he was Senior Counsel for CSEA Local 1000, AFSCME, AFL-CIO.
Letitia F. Silas, Executive Director of System-wide Labor Relations for the University of California. The System-wide Labor Relations office is responsible for negotiating and administering 14 system-wide labor agreements and 20 local agreements with 9 unions, covering over 94,000 academic and staff employees across the UC system including 10 campuses, 5 medical centers, and 3 national laboratories. In addition to representing employers in traditional labor matters while at two of the nation’s top exclusively labor and employment law firms, Fisher Phillips (Partner) and Jackson Lewis (Associate), Letitia’s professional background also includes serving as Senior Labor Counsel and Director of Labor Relations for Howard University and Howard University Hospital. At Howard, Letitia was responsible for negotiating and overseeing the administration of 9 collective-bargaining agreements, restoring healthy labor relations with the University’s 9 unions, and representing the University in arbitrations and proceedings before the National Labor Relations Board (“NLRB”). Letitia started her Labor career as a field attorney for the NLRB, where investigated and prosecuted unfair labor practices on behalf of the General Counsel. In that capacity, she served in both the Boston and Washington DC Regional Offices.
E. Kevin Young currently serves as an Associate Director for System-wide Labor Relations for the University of California. In that capacity, he is a chief negotiator and advisor for the University’s system-wide collective-bargaining agreements spanning 10 campuses, 5 medical centers, and 3 national laboratories. He has also represented the University in grievance, arbitration, and unfair labor practice proceedings. Prior to joining the University, Kevin served as the Assistant City Attorney for the City of Livermore, CA for over 15 years. In that capacity, he served as lead counsel in proceedings in state and federal court as well the Public Employment Relations Board and the Employment Development Department. Kevin’s background also includes work as an associate attorney at a labor and employment law firm, where he served as a chief negotiator, litigation counsel, and human resources consultant to counties, cities and public entities throughout the State of California.
Tara Singer-Blumberg has been working for NYSUT as a labor relations specialist since 2000, in the Western NY Regional Office, first working with K-12 locals for four years before being assigned to United University Professions (UUP). Tara’s professional experience includes 12 years of private practice mostly in labor law in Niagara Falls, NY and regional counsel for CSEA for five counties in the western NY area. She received a Bachelor of Arts degree in industrial labor relations from McGill University, Montreal and a Juris Doctor from Osgoode Hall Law School, York University in Toronto.
Homer C. La Rue, Labor Arbitrator, Mediator, and Professor of Law, Howard University School of Law. Professor La Rue is an experienced and highly-sought arbitrator and mediator of workplace and other disputes. He has over thirty-five years of experience in a variety of industries and settings including, but not limited to, airlines, railroads, retail, higher education, telecommunications, public sector state and local government and federal sector. Professor La Rue also is an accomplished educator, particularly in the field of alternative dispute resolution. He has been teaching law since 1983 and has been a full professor on the faculty of law at Howard University School of Law since 1994. Professor La Rue is the recipient of the 2020 D’Alemberte-Raven Award from the ABA Section of Dispute Resolution. It is the highest award given to an individual for outstanding and long-term service to the ADR community.