Staff Feature: Special Counsel to the President Eugene Freedman
What schools or institutions have you attended, and what unique learning experiences, formal or otherwise, have contributed to your personal and professional growth?
I wanted to be a union-side contract negotiator since high school, so I pursued my bachelor’s degree at Cornell University School of Industrial and Labor Relations. After interning at two unions, I decided to go to law school at University of Maryland. During my time there I served as a summer clerk at one union and then clerked full-time for a semester at the National Labor Relations Board. My first job was writing about NLRB decisions and labor arbitration awards for a legal publishing company, where I joined the Washington-Baltimore Newspaper Guild – Communications Workers of America and became a shop steward, handing grievances. I was selected for the contract team while I was still a probationary employee. In retrospect, it was kind of a crazy way to be on my first contract team.
Can you share a memorable experience or success story from your time with NATCA?
After 20 years I have a lot of memorable experiences and am proud of a lot of NATCA success stories. One of them was that during the imposed work rules there were approximately 500,000 grievances pending for arbitration. We worked with the Mediation to Finality Panel to establish a special grievance procedure to adjudicate those cases in a very expedited manner. The ARVPs and I setup a process to review the cases at the regional level and then consolidate them into similar-type issues. Ultimately, with the case preparation assistance of regional LR leads, I argued thousands of cases over three years, resulting in over a million dollars in back pay and over $350,000 in immediate raises for members. This was a critical step in emerging from the imposed work rules because our Regional LR teams and Labor Relations Department could focus on enforcing the newly ratified Red Book instead of looking back at all of the problems caused by the IWR.
Do you have any family members who have also been part of the tradition of unionism? How has your or your family’s involvement in unions influenced your journey or perspectives?
I’m a fourth-generation trade unionist. Supporting working people and solidarity have always been part of my life and my upbringing.
My great grandmother was a member of the International Ladies Garment Workers Union (ILGWU) in New York City about 100 years ago. Her son was a plumber and member of the United Association of Plumbers and Pipefitters (UA) for over 65 years. After working in construction, he began working for a sewage disposal plant and became a member of the American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) as well. He became sick towards the end of his career and his union’s negotiated sick leave and leave donation program bridged him to retirement.
My father was an elected officer for his local of the American Federation of Teachers (AFT) and went on to work for the International Union of Bricklayers and Allied Craftworkers (BAC) where he led their international programs to fight for free trade unions abroad and set up training programs for construction workers in Eastern Europe after the fall of communism, Egypt, and South Africa after the end of apartheid. My mother also worked to support international free trade unions and then went on to work at AFT in the Office of the President, where she helped develop and implement union policy. My brother is currently the National Deputy Political Field Coordinator for the International Brotherhood of Teamsters (IBT). My sister was a rank-and-file member of the National Education Association.
When I was young my parents brought me to protest outside of the Polish Consulate in New York City after the Polish communist government arrested shipyard union leader Lech Walesa. I also joined a PATCO picket line at John F. Kennedy International Airport with my aunt, who worked at the JFK credit union at the time, and my grandfather. I still have the shirt I wore on the picket line.
If you could share with NATCA’s members a little-known thing about being a member of NATCA’s staff, what would it be?
People who stay at NATCA for a career do it because we believe in NATCA’s mission.
What’s a lesson you’ve learned in life that always stays with you?
Nobody’s invincible, no plan is foolproof
We all must meet our moment of truth
What’s one skill or hobby you’ve developed outside of your work life?
I have been playing AL-only rotisserie league baseball with the same group of friends from college for over 30 years.
If you could solve one world problem, what would it be and why?
Poverty. Income and wealth inequality has become one of the leading causes of differences in life expectancy and health. Billionaires shouldn’t exist while there are people who cannot afford food, housing, health care, and other basic necessities of life.
What’s one country or city you dream of visiting and why?
I would like to go on safari to the Ngorongoro Crater and the Serengeti National Park in Tanzania or the Maasai Mara National Reserve in Kenya. I have always wanted to see all of the large land animals from that part of the world in their natural habitat, particularly during the great migration. I hope to do that while I am still physically able and before climate change and other risks cause either the animals or me to become extinct.
