Press Release - President Biden Intends to Appoint Members to the Federal Labor Relations Authority Federal Service Impasses Panel

WASHINGTON – Today, President Joe Biden announced his intent to appoint the following members to the Federal Labor Relations Authority (FLRA) Federal Service Impasses Panel:

• Martin H. Malin, Chair
• Wynter P. Allen, Member
• Jeanne Charles, Member
• Howard Friedman, Member
• Edward F. Hartfield, Member
• Marvin E. Johnson, Member
• Mark G. Pearce, Member
• Pamela Schwartz, Member
• Joseph E. Slater, Member
• Tamiko N.W. Watkins, Member

The Panel is a component of the FLRA that resolves impasses between federal agencies and unions representing federal employees. If bargaining between the parties, followed by mediation assistance, does not result in a voluntary agreement, then either party or the parties jointly may request the Panel's assistance.

Martin H. Malin
Martin H. Malin is Professor Emeritus at Chicago-Kent College of Law, Illinois Institute of Technology, where he taught for 41 years, founded the Institute for Law and the Workplace, and served as Director of the Institute for 25 years. He joined the Chicago-Kent faculty in 1980 after serving as law clerk to United States District Judge Robert E. DeMascio in Detroit and on the faculty of The Ohio State University. A renown scholar on the law governing the workplace, he has published more than 80 articles and seven books on labor law.

Professor Malin has served as National Chair of the Labor Relations and Employment Law Section of the Association of American Law Schools, Secretary of the ABA Section on Labor and Employment Law, member of the Executive Committee of the Labor Law Group, member of the Board of Governors and Vice President of the National Academy of Arbitrators, and member of the Board of Governors of the College of Labor and Employment Lawyers.

In October 2009, President Obama appointed Professor Malin as a member of the Federal Service Impasses Panel. President Obama reappointed Professor Malin in 2014 and Malin served until May 2017. In 2016, the ABA presented Professor Malin with the Arvid Anderson Award for lifetime contributions to public sector labor law.
He has a B.A. from Michigan State University and a J.D. from George Washington University.

Wynter Patrice Allen
Wynter Patrice Allen is a Partner at the Alden Law Group, PLLC in Washington, D.C. where she practices labor and employment law. Ms. Allen has also served as a Commissioner on the District of Columbia's Commission on Human Rights since 2017. From 2011 until 2013, Ms. Allen served as the Chair of the District of Columbia's Public Employee Relations Board. From 2006-2010, Ms. Allen was a Staff Attorney at the International Brotherhood of Teamsters. Ms. Allen has served as an Adjunct Professor for the Elon Law School Externship Program and Howard University School of Law. Ms. Allen has a law degree from Wake Forest University School of Law and a B.A. from the University of Chicago.

Jeanne Charles
Jeanne Charles resides in Florida with a multi-state ADR practice including arbitration, mediation and fact-finding predominantly in the areas of workplace disputes. She earned her Juris Doctorate degree from DePaul University College of Law in Chicago and maintains her law license in Illinois. Ms. Charles currently serves as a labor and employment arbitrator on various public and private sector panels including professional sports. She is on the rosters of the American Arbitration Association, Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service, and National Mediation Board. As a Special Magistrate for the Florida Public Employees Relations Commission (PERC) for a number of years, Ms. Charles has helped labor and management organizations resolve bargaining impasse disputes regarding issues such as pay, benefits and safety. She has served as an adjunct professor at Penn State University’s School of Labor and Employment Relations where she has taught a graduate course in Human Resources and Employment Relations, as well as the University of Arizona School of Law, where she has taught advanced negotiations. Prior to becoming an arbitrator, Ms. Charles practiced as staff counsel for a federal sector labor union in Chicago and in private practice. Prior to becoming an attorney, she had ten years of corporate experience was certified in Total Quality Management and Problem Solving.

Ms. Charles is a Fellow with the College of Labor and Employment Lawyers and has been inducted into the National Academy of Arbitrators (NAA) where she serves on its Board of Governors. Ms. Charles was instrumental in helping the labor-management community adapt to virtual hearings by serving as the Chair of the NAA Videoconference Task Force over the last year. Ms. Charles is the proud mother of three adult daughters and is a member of various organizations in her community.

Howard Friedman
Howard Friedman served 25 years in the federal government as an attorney and 23 years as President of the National Treasury Employees Union, Chapter 245, at the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO). A former chief spokesperson and negotiator for the Trademark attorneys at the USPTO, Mr. Friedman is experienced in federal labor law, negotiating collective bargaining agreements, labor-management and employee relations, government operations, and mediating and resolving workplace disputes. He was the labor co-chair of the USPTO and Department of Commerce labor-management forum.

A former President of the Society of Federal Labor & Employee Relations Professionals, Mr. Friedman teaches federal labor relations to human resource professionals, agency managers, mediators and arbitrators, and union officials. As a long-standing member of the USPTO Trademark Public Advisory Committee, he advised its director on improving operations, performance, budget, and fee structure policies. Mr. Friedman played an integral role in creating and growing the USPTO's well-known telework program, which started in 1997 with 18 Trademark examining attorneys and now has over 11,000 employees able to work from home. Mr. Friedman graduated from Delaware Law School and the University of Maryland.

Edward F. Hartfield
Edward F. Hartfield has spent his 45-year career as an impartial third party in the roles of mediator, arbitrator, facilitator, election administrator, and neutral convenor. Previously, Hartfield was appointed by Presidents Obama and Clinton to serve as a Member of the Federal Service Impasses Panel. He has also served as Commissioner with the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service and Mediator for the New Jersey Office of Dispute Settlement.

Mr. Hartfield was appointed to the arbitration rosters of the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service, the National Mediation Board, the Michigan Employment Relations Commission, the Ohio State Employment Relations Board, and the Iowa Public Employment Relations Board.

Mr. Hartfield has been the International President of the Society of Professionals in Dispute Resolution and President of the Detroit Chapter of the Labor and Employment Research Association. Hartfield is adjunct faculty at the Michigan State University College of Law and Wayne State University. He received a Master’s in International Relations from the University of Detroit and B.A. from Oberlin College.

Marvin E. Johnson
Marvin E. Johnson is the Executive Director of the Center for Alternative Dispute Resolution, which he founded at Bowie State University in 1986. He was Associate Professor of Labor Relations, Law, and Dispute Resolution at Bowie State University and an Adjunct Professor at the Catholic University School of Law. Mr. Johnson has served three terms as a Member of the Federal Service Impasses Panel and one term as a Member of the Foreign Service Grievance Board. He has worked for the Department of Labor, the National Football League Players’ Association, the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service, the Federal Labor Relations Authority, the National Treasury Employees Union, the National Academy of Conciliators and Accormend Associates. Mr. Johnson has served on numerous national dispute resolution boards, including the Association for Conflict Resolution, the ABA-Section of Dispute Resolution, and the International Academy of Mediators and has served on numerous national dispute resolution panels, including the American Arbitration Association, the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service, JAMS the Resolution Experts, and the CPR Institute for Dispute Resolution. He received a B.B.A. from Kent State University, an M.S. from the University of Wisconsin, and a J.D. from the Catholic University Law School.

Mark Gaston Pearce
Mark Gaston Pearce is a visiting professor and executive director of the Georgetown University Law Center, Workers’ Rights Institute. He is also a panel labor arbitrator and mediator for AAA and FMCS. Formerly a Board Member and Chairman of the National Labor Relations Board, he previously taught at Cornell University’s School of Industrial and Labor Relations. He is a graduate of Cornell University and State University of New York at Buffalo Law School. He has more than 40 years of experience in the practice in labor and employment law. His extensive experience includes private sector practice and many years of public service with the NLRB and as a governor appointed Board member on the New York State Industrial Board of Appeals. Among other honors, he was named a Champion of Workplace Justice by the Employment Justice Center of Washington, D.C. and placed on the National Employment Law Project Honor Roll.

Pamela R. Schwartz
Pamela Schwartz has over 20 years of experience in federal labor management relations. She held positions with increasing levels of authority within the Patent Office Professional Association, an independent federal labor union representing over 8000 patent examiners and other patent professionals at the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO). This culminated in three years as Union President. During her years as chief negotiator, she represented the Union on interest-based and joint management/labor bargaining teams, and led collective bargaining negotiations, including appearances before the Federal Service Impasses Panel. She served as a Patent Examiner with the USPTO for over 35 years. She received her BSChE degree from Drexel University and her Juris Doctor degree from George Washington University Law School.

Joseph E. Slater
Joseph Slater is a Distinguished University Professor and the Eugene N. Balk Professor of Law and Values at the University of Toledo College of Law. He holds a B.A. from Oberlin College, a J.D. from the University of Michigan Law School, and a PhD in history from Georgetown University. Before coming to Toledo in 1999, he practiced labor and employment law in Washington, D.C. for over a decade. Since coming to Toledo, he has published numerous books and articles on labor and employment law, especially in the area of public-sector labor law.

In 2019, Professor Slater testified before Congress on the Public Service Freedom to Negotiate Act and the Public Safety Employer-Employee Cooperation Act. He has presented many papers on public-sector labor law at conferences of academics and of practicing lawyers. He has made numerous media appearances on public-sector labor issues. He is a member of the Labor Law Group, a group of labor and employment law scholars, and of the College of Labor and Employment Lawyers, a group of practitioners and academics specializing in labor and employment law.

Tamiko N.W. Watkins
Tamiko Walker Watkins, Esq. is an Assistant General Counsel at the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC). In this role, Mrs. Watkins serves as MCC’s senior legal advisor on employment and administrative law and is responsible for managing the administrative law team. She also oversees the MCC’s Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) program office, whistleblower protection program, and serves as the Alternate Designated Agency Ethics Official. Prior to MCC, she served as a Senior Trial Attorney and Assistant Counsel for the Department of the Navy. She provided counsel and training on labor and employment law and represented the Navy in litigation. Mrs. Watkins began her legal career as a Trial Attorney for Allstate Insurance Company and Judicial Law Clerk for the Pennsylvania Court of Common Pleas.

In addition, Mrs. Watkins is an Adjunct Law Professor at Howard University School of Law. She also has notable alternative dispute resolution experience. She served as a Mediator for the Superior Court of the District of Columbia, an Arbitrator for the District of Columbia Bar’s Attorney/Client Arbitration Board, and an Arbitrator for the Pennsylvania Court of Common Pleas. She received her Master of Laws degree in Litigation and Dispute Resolution from the George Washington University Law School, Juris Doctor from Widener University School of Law, and Bachelor of Arts in Public Relations from Hampton University.