Public Review Board Chair James J. Brudney says the panel acts as an internal watchdog. Photo by Rebecca Cook.

The UAW Public Review Board continues to fulfill the mission the union established under Walter P. Reuther more than 50 years ago, its co-chair reported to convention delegates Wednesday.

“The PRB continues to function as an internal watchdog within the UAW,” said board co-chair James J. Brudney, law professor, Newton D. Baker-Baker & Hostetler Chair in Law at The Ohio State University College of Law in Columbus, Ohio.

PRB members are nationally recognized experts in ethics, labor law and labor-management relations. They provide UAW members with a final court of appeals to protect their rights to fair and ethical treatment.

“The union is better off for having it tested in this way,” Reuther said in 1957 when the UAW was the first union to establish an independent board of appeals to safeguard the democratic rights of its members.

Brudney, who said there was a decrease in the volume of appeals since the last convention in 2006, provided delegates with these statistics:

-- On Dec. 31, 2008, there were seven appeals pending decision by the board.

-- During the ensuing 12 months, 24 additional appeals were filed.

-- In calendar year 2009, the members of the PRB decided 24 appeals, two were withdrawn, leaving five appeals pending as of Dec. 31, 2009.

In addition, the convention acted to appoint the following PRB members, including Brudney:

-- Janice R. Bellace (co-chair), Samuel Blank Professor of Legal Studies, The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia.

-- Fred Feinstein, University of Maryland School of Public Policy, senior fellow, visiting professor.

-- Harry C. Katz, Dean and Jack Sheinkman Professor, Cornell University, ILR School, Ithaca, N.Y.

-- Maria L. Ontiveros, professor of Labor and Employment Law, University of San Francisco, San Francisco.

-- Calvin William Sharpe, Galen J. Roush Professor of Business Law and Regulation Founding Director, Center for the Interdisciplinary Study of Conflict and Dispute Resolution, Case Western Reserve University School of Law.

 
Jennifer John