CLEVELAND, February 2 — BLET National President Dennis R. Pierce has announced that Michael S. Wolly, senior principal of the law firm of Zwerdling, Paul, Kahn & Wolly, P.C., which is headquartered in Washington, D.C., has been appointed General Counsel of the union effective February 1.
Michael S. Wolly
Wolly has been practicing labor and employment law for 38 years. A Fellow in the College of Labor and Employment Lawyers, he has been involved in many complex lawsuits and administrative proceedings involving disputes under U.S. labor laws, including the Railway Labor Act, and has appeared before numerous Presidential Emergency Boards. Wolly also has appeared before many arbitration panels addressing resolution of nationwide collective bargaining disputes, including the landmark Family and Medical Leave Act arbitration in 2008.
BLET President Pierce noted that the appointment was well deserved. “Mike Wolly has been a key member of our legal team for a number of years, and has been a part of every significant case involving the BLET. We will be very well represented, and I’m happy that Mike is on board,” President Pierce said.
“I also want to recognize the continuing support and counsel provided by Harold Ross,” Pierce added. “Although Harold ‘retired’ as General Counsel in late 2004, he has continued to provide substantial representation and assistance to us, and has more than earned the time off he wants. We will always be in Harold’s debt and know that his advice is just a phone call away.”
President Pierce also thanked George Faulkner of Faulkner, Muskovitz and Phillips, LLP in Cleveland, Ohio, for the assistance that he has provided to the BLET. “George has also been a key part of BLET’s legal team and we look forward to our continued relationship with him.”
In other personnel changes effective on February 1, long-time Communications Director Chuck Anderson has been reassigned as the President’s Staff Liaison to the BLET’s Information Technology (IT) Department, where he will assist in a long-overdue redesign of the National Division’s technological capacity. Greg Ross has been transferred from the BLET Arbitration Department and now becomes Director of Communications and Coordinator of Legal Affairs.