Arbitration, Industrial

David Tanzman Papers

kschmeling — Thu, 11 Apr 2019 11:18:15 -0400

David S. Tanzman, originally from Corona, New York, was born in 1919 and received a BA in Liberal Arts from Wayne State University. According to the Detroit Jewish News, Tanzman fought in the European Theatre in World War II and when the war ended he worked as a government messenger in Washington. Later he became a mediator for the National Defense Mediation Board and then the National Wage Stabilization Board. In September 1948, he relocated to Detroit and joined the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service where he helped prevent labor disputes through mediation and arbitration until 1979. After his work with the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service, he kept his hand in labor mediation and arbitration, and also became an instructor in the field of labor management relations in both public and private sectors.

Additionally, Tanzman was a former program Director of the Wayne State University and University of Michigan Institute of Labor and Industrial affairs. Other professional activities include: being founder and past president of the Society of Professionals in Dispute Resolution, appointment to the Michigan Employment Relations Commission in 1983, a member of the National Academy of Arbitrators, and Chairman of the Michigan Employment Relations Commission from 1986-1992.

Kenneth Forbes Papers

kschmeling — Tue, 05 Dec 2017 14:21:45 -0500

The collection consists of the papers of Kenneth Forbes, a UAW leader in the Saginaw area. Forbes held different offices in the union including the president of UAW Local 455 and was also active politically. The papers cover his active years in the union and his retirement, and gives a glimpse into the life of the politics and challenges of an elected official in the UAW.

Shlomo Sperka Papers

kschmeling — Mon, 21 Mar 2016 13:40:10 -0400

Shlomo “Sol” Sperka (1933-2015) was a Detroit lawyer and arbitrator. He was educated at Wayne State University (1952-1954) and Brooklyn Law School (1958). Upon obtaining his degree Sperka returned to the Detroit area, first working for the National Labor Relations Board and then moving on to the Michigan Employment Relations Commission (MERC), where he served first as an Administrative Law Judge and then as director. After retiring from state employment in 1998, Sperka spent several years in academia, teaching at the Wayne State University Law School and serving as the interim Director of the Master of Arts Program in Industrial Relations. Sperka also served as an arbitrator from 1998 until 2011. Throughout his career, he published a number of works on labor law and public sector labor relations, and he was an active member of a number of professional organizations, including the American Arbitration Association. In addition to his legal career, Sperka was an active member of the Detroit Jewish community and had a particular interest in and expertise in Talmudic Law.

The bulk of the material in this collection is from the 1980s forward and relates to Sperka’s work at the MERC, as a Professor at Wayne State, and as an arbitrator. Types of materials include correspondence, case notes, lectures and speeches, continuing education materials, and information from various professional organizations in which Sperka was involved. Also included is a small quantity of material from Sperka’s personal files, which primarily reflect his involvement in Detroit’s Jewish community.