Special Event
Reception with William Gould, Former Chairman of the United States
National Labor Relations Board
Tuesday, May 5 from 6:30 to 8:00 p.m. UNITEâs Holborn office at 128
Theoblads Road (Light refreshments will be served)
Professors Ian Greer of the University of Greenwich and Jane Holgate of
the University of Leeds along with UNITE the Union, the International
Transport Workersâ Federation and the International Brotherhood of
Teamsters invite you to hear from Stanford University Professor William
Gould, who served as the highest ranking government official overseeing
US labour law under President Bill Clinton. Professor Gould will discuss
his role as the Independent Monitor of UK-based transportation company
FirstGroup from 2008 to 2011.
This discussion is especially relevant as shareholders of the U.K.-based
transport company National Express are deciding how to vote on a
resolution that calls for the National Express Board of Directors to
adopt an Independent Monitoring programme in the face of continued
anti-worker allegations at its U.S. school bus subsidiary â Durham
School Services â most recently documented in a report by MPs Ian
Lavery and Jim Sheridan. The Annual General Meeting of National Express
is scheduled for May 6.
The resolution is one of six labour rights resolutions submitted at a UK
company in the past 10 years and the first to get the support of two
leading proxy voting services, PIRC and ISS, who have recommended a vote
in favour of the resolution.
Professor Gould will be joined by representatives from a delegation of
community and religious leaders from the US who have first-hand
experience with National Expressâ U.S. operations.
In 2008, FirstGroup unilaterally adopted an independent monitoring
programme to oversee its Freedom of Association Policy in North America.
At the time, the company had been facing allegations of violations of
not only U.S. labour law but its own Freedom of Association policy. In
response, FirstGroup hired Professor Gould to serve as its Independent
Monitor and implement the programme.
William B. Gould IV
A prolific scholar of labor and discrimination law, William B. Gould IV
has been an influential voice on worker- management relations for more
than forty years and served as Chairman of the National Labor Relations
Board (1994-98) and Chairman of the California Agricultural Labor
Relations Board (2014 to present). He is the Charles A. Beardsley
Professor of Law, Emeritus at Stanford Law School.
Professor Gould is the recipient of five honorary doctorates for his
significant contributions in the fields of labor law and labor
relations. Professor Gould graduated from University of Rhode Island in
1958, Cornell University Law School in 1961, and completed graduate
studies at the London School of Economics in 1962 and 1963.
Please RSVP to [log in to unmask] by 12 pm on Tues 5 May.
--
Professor Jane Holgate
Professor of Work and Employment Relations
Work and Employment Relations Division
Leeds University Business School
31 Lyddon Terrace (room 2.05)
University of Leeds LS2 9JT
email: [log in to unmask]
Mobile: 07960 798399
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