Join experienced labor relations professionals as we embark on a lively mediation to attempt to resolve a sticky contract dispute. This will be an interactive presentation where we seek audience input and strategize on how best to bring the parties to agreement. Participants will learn to think outside the box and from a perspective that might be different from their experience.
Commissioner Timothy P. Healy; assigned to the Chicago field office of the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service (FMCS), assists parties in the private, public and federal sectors in contract negotiation, grievance mediation and in resolving workplace disputes. He also provides labor and management advocate training in collective bargaining, contract administration and grievance processing; steward/supervisor training; labor management committee structure and processes; problem solving; communication and decision making.
Prior to joining FMCS, Tim worked as a Vice President of SEIU Local 1, Firemen and Oilers Division. In this capacity he was responsible for contract negotiations, advocacy, grievance and arbitration work. Tim worked with both public and private sector employers across a five state area in the Midwest. In addition to this contract administration work, he served as Union Trustee on two Taft Hartley Pension Funds and a Health and Welfare plan.
Tim also served on a number of union coalitions and was the spokesperson and lead negotiator for the State of Illinois’ Coalition of Unionized Trade Organizations.
Throughout his career Tim had a strong focus on problem solving and advocacy for the members he had the honor of serving. Tim started as a member of Local 7, Firemen & Oilers at the County of Cook Hospital in 1982 then moved to Business Representative in October 1995. In 2006, he was elected President of the local until fully merging with SEIU Local 1 as V.P. of the F&O Division in August 2011, until such time as he accepted his appointment as Commissioner of the FMCS in February 2017.
Tim holds a B.S in Communications from Southern Illinois University – Carbondale, Illinois.
Susan is a shareholder with Allison, Slutsky & Kennedy, P.C. Her union career began in 1995, when she entered the AFL-CIO Organizing Institute’s Apprenticeship Program, and later became a staff union organizer at UFCW Local 951, where she worked on NLRB election campaigns and corporate pressure campaigns. After graduating from law school, Susan served as a Law Fellow with Service Employees International Union on a corporate pressure campaign against a local hospital chain, where she represented individuals who were sued for medical debt. Susan then served as the General Counsel for Service Employees International Union, Local 73 for almost ten years, where she represented both public and private employees. As in-house General Counsel, Susan gained invaluable and extensive knowledge of the institutional concerns and needs of unions, conducted numerous trainings for both staff and members, and gained extensive experience representing the union in negotiations, arbitrations, State and Federal Court, and before the National Labor Relations Board, Illinois Labor Relations Board, Illinois Educational Labor Relations Board, Illinois Department of Human Rights and Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.
In 2013, Susan transitioned to private practice with Carmell Charone Widmer Moss & Barr, where she became a partner and focused on representing firefighter clients. She is also experienced at representing firefighter unions in contract negotiations, contract enforcement, interest arbitration, unfair labor practice proceedings, and court litigation. In 2022, she joined Allison, Slutsky & Kennedy, P.C., where she continues to represent public and private sector clients.
Michelle Owen has been an administrative law judge with the Illinois Labor Relations Board since 2018. She also worked as an administrative law judge with the Board from 2010 to 2014. Ms. Owen has also worked as an attorney for multiple private law firms representing both public sector and private sector unions, public and private sector employers, and individual employees. Ms. Owen has served as a volunteer attorney for the State of Illinois Executive Clemency Project, Chicago Volunteer Legal Services, Chicago Cares, and the Illinois Lawyers’ Assistance Program. After graduating from law school, she was awarded a fellowship with the Champaign County State’s Attorney where she worked on labor matters for the county. During law school, Ms. Owen was awarded a Peggy Browning Fund Fellowship, participated in the AFL-CIO Law Student Union Summer program, and externed for the Sixth Judicial Circuit Court. During law school, Ms. Owen was a board member and grievance officer for a union representing teaching assistants and graduate assistants at the University of Illinois. Ms. Owen earned both a law degree cum laude and a master’s degree in Human Resources and Industrial Relations from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in 2010.
Firefighter Forum
Opening Plenary: Cultural & Political Polarization
Auditorium
Opening Plenary: Cultural & Political Polarization
Original Program Date: 12/02/2022 |
Marijuana, Drug Testing, and Other Privacy Issues in the Workplace
Original Program Date: 12/02/2022 |
Closing Plenary: Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion in the Public Sector
Original Program Date: 12/02/2022 |