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Profile
Bruce Petesch represents a broad spectrum of clients, both domestic and multinational, in complex labor relations issues. He has extensive experience representing clients in contract negotiations, particularly in manufacturing, poultry and food processing and trucking industries, as well as advising management during union organizing attempts, and handling labor arbitration cases and litigation before the NLRB. As part of his practice, Bruce works with both senior and plant level management to develop effective business strategies for maintaining positive employee relations programs in union-free environments in both conventional and team-based operations; regularly counsels management during difficult employment decisions; and has considerable experience in conducting management training on practical applications of labor and employment law.
Prior to joining the firm in 1973, Bruce served for four years as a Captain in the United States Army Judge Advocate General’s Corps.
Experience
- Represented clients in more than one hundred union organizing attempts in a wide variety of industries, including trucking, food processing, distribution center, and manufacturing operations
- Advised a national trucking company on a lawful double-breasting strategy to successfully change from a union dominated carrier to a principally non-union carrier in order to meet the challenges of deregulation
- Guided the negotiated withdrawal from the Central States Pension Fund of a major trucking company
- Successfully negotiated concessions of approximately $7.2 million dollars in annual savings, as well as changes to a post-retirement employee benefit plan resulting in an additional one time savings of $22 million dollars, from unions covering approximately 800 employees. This was achieved without a work stoppage. The simultaneous negotiations, which were conducted pursuant to Sections 1113 and 1114 of the United States Bankruptcy Code, were with two different international unions, each covering a separate bargaining unit involving plants located in different regions of the country.
- Acted as chief negotiator, or as principal advisor, in collective bargaining negotiations for clients involved in the retail distribution, poultry, food processing, manufacturing, wood products, metals, fiberglass, public utility, and nationwide truck transportation industries
- Successfully negotiated the elimination of 30-year-old contract scheduling and seniority restrictions for a major food processor allowing the establishment of alternative work schedules to increase productivity
- Negotiated the complete revision of a long established collective bargaining agreement in order to eliminate restrictive past practices and contract limitations
- Prepared the strategy for lawfully negotiating the closure of a unionized distribution operation and relocation of the work to a new union free operation less than 100 miles away
- Assisted management in the first tier automotive parts industry to develop highly involved workforce strategies along with proactive employee relations program as part of a union-free environment
Education and Honors
J.D., DePaul University, 1969
A.B., Ripon College, 1966
- Editor-in-Chief, DePaul Law Review
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Professional Activities
- North Carolina Bar
- North Carolina State Bar
- South Carolina Bar
- Illinois Bar
- North American Transportation Employee Relations Association
- National Tank Truck Carriers
- North Carolina Citizens for Business and Industry (Employer/Employee Relations Committee)
In The News
- September 1, 2008 - North Carolina Magazine - "Union Blues: Two New Bills are Poised to Change Assumptions About Unions and Their Prevalence in North Carolina"
- February 1, 2010 - Ogletree Deakins Publication - "Vulnerability Assessments - To Be Forewarned Is To Be Forearmed"
Illinois
South Carolina
U.S. Court of Appeals, Fourth and Fifth Circuits
North Carolina
U.S. Supreme Court