On August 23, 2021, President Joseph R. Biden, Jr. announced his intent to appoint new members to the Federal Service Impasses Panel (FSIP). Among them, several are longtime members of the Society including the newly selected Chair of the Panel, Martin H. Malin, as well as Howard Friedman and Marvin E. Johnson. Other Members of the FSIP appointed include Wynter P. Allen, Jeanne Charles, Edward F. Hartfield, Mark G. Pearce, Pamela Schwartz, Joseph E. Slater, and Tamiko N.W. Watkins.
The Panel is an independent entity within the Federal Labor Relations Authority (FLRA). The Panel Chair and Members serve on a part-time basis and aid in resolving negotiation impasses between federal agencies and labor organizations.
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 renowned 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 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.
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. He served as SFLERP President from 2011 to 2013 and has taught for many years and continues to teach the Society’s labor relations course. 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.
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 FSIP 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.
For biographical information on the other members of the Panel, please Click HERE.