International Employee Representation and Works Councils

Program Description

The teleconference will look at the growing practice towards global trade union representation and the increasing presence of internal works councils. The presentation will help U.S. lawyers understand their international clients’ obligations related to external and internal employee representative groups, particularly under EU law. The program will also review the statutory basis and practical implications of mediation and arbitration to resolve employee disputes.

Program Faculty

Owen E. Herrnstadt serves as the director of Trade and Globalization for the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers (IAM).  Prior to this position, he served as the IAM’s associate general counsel. Mr. Herrnstadt has made presentations on numerous topics including corporate social responsibility, works councils, working time, challenges of the global economy, trade, human rights, and U.S. and comparative labor law.  His recent article, “Are International Framework Agreements a Path to Corporate Social Responsibility?”, appears in the fall 2007 issue of the University of Pennsylvania Journal of Business and Employment Law.

Janet McEneaney is an arbitrator and mediator of labor, employment, and commercial disputes. She teaches conflict resolution, negotiation, and mediation skills to employees of corporations and non-profit organizations. She also teaches employment and business subjects in degree programs at New York University and the CUNY Graduate Center.  For 10 years, Ms. McEneaney was a neutral trial examiner at the New York City Office of Collective Bargaining before becoming a self-employed neutral. Additionally, Ms. McEneaney is the editor of the Labor and Employment Journal for the New York State Bar Association's Labor and Employment Section and a member of the Section's Executive Committee.

Greg Meyer is senior counsel in the IBM Human Resources Law Group (HRLG) in Armonk, NY. Mr. Meyer's responsibilities include all aspects of labor and employment law impacting IBM's globally integrated enterprise. He regularly advises on matters involving employment discrimination, union organizing, employee safety and health, affirmative action, compensation-related issues, reductions-in-force, and retention and non-compete agreements. Mr. Meyer has represented IBM before various administrative agencies, including the NLRB, EEOC, OSHA, and similar state agencies. Throughout his career, he has specialized exclusively in the representation of management clients in labor and employment law issues.

Gerlind Wisskirchen is a partner and specialist lawyer in employment and labor law of CMS Hasche Sigle in Cologne, Germany. Ms. Wisskirchen advises German and foreign multinational companies on all areas of individual and collective employment law, in particular, on the issues of restructuring and reorganization, outsourcing, collective bargaining (e.g. the introduction of ERA) and works council aspects, privatizations, transactions, and personnel adjustment measures.  She also acts as a consultant and negotiates in respect to collective bargaining agreements, reconciliations of interests, and social plans.  She and her team strive to forge workable business solutions to real-world problems.

Arnold Zack resides in Boston, MA, where he is vice president and judge of the Asian Development Bank Administrative Tribunal, an arbitrator and mediator of over 5,000 labor management disputes since 1957. Mr. Zack is also a designer of employment dispute resolution systems and chair of the Steering Committee on labor standards for the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague. Additionally, he is an occasional consultant to the governments of the United States (Department of State, Peace Corps, Department of Labor, and Department of Commerce), Australia, Cambodia, Greece, Israel, Italy, Philippines, and South Africa, as well as the International Labor Organization, International Monetary Fund, InterAmerican Development Bank, and UN Development Program. He has also been a member of four presidential Emergency Boards.

CLE Credit*

1.5 hours of CLE credit in 60-minute states/1.8 hours of CLE credit in 50-minute states have been requested in states accrediting ABA teleconferences and live audio webcasts.*

NY-licensed attorneys: This non-transitional CLE program has been approved for experienced NY-licensed attorneys in accordance with the requirements of the New York State CLE Board for 1.5 total NY CLE credits.

The following states accept ABA teleconferences for mandatory CLE credit:
AL, AR, AZ, CA, CO, FL, GA, IA, ID, IL, KY, LA, ME, MN, MO, MS, MT, NC, ND, NH, NM, NV, NY, OK, OR, RI, SC, TN, TX, UT, VA, VT, WA, WI, WV, WY.

*States currently not accrediting ABA Teleconferences: DE, IN, PA, KS, OH