Clark Hill Attorneys Barbara A. Ruga & John Gierak Present at the MNA Fall Conference – October 10

GRAND RAPIDS, MICH. –

Attorney Barbara A. Ruga is presenting “Inside the Lion’s Cage: Evaluations and Merit Pay, Where are we at now” and attorney John Gierak is co-presenting “Pulling the Rabbit out of the Hat, Formula Based Salary Models: Managing the risks of a multi-year agreement” at the Michigan Negotiators Association’s (MNA) Fall Conference on Thursday, October 10. The three day conference will be held at Summit Village, Shanty Creek in Bellaire, Michigan from October 9 to October 11, 2013.

Ruga, a recipient of the Harlow Claggett award for her leadership in the school labor negotiations field and contributions to public school labor negotiations, has been a frequent presenter as a legal/bargaining expert at MNA conferences for several decades.

Gierak, Chair of the Clark Hill Education Practice Group, is a much sought after counselor and advisor to public school boards and administrators in the multitude of legal issues public school districts face, and also speaks frequently to school district administrators.

Ruga and Gierak have each been advising and counseling public school districts and businesses on labor law and employment issues for more than 35 years. In addition to their combined 70 years of extensive experience negotiating teacher contracts in a context of scarce resources, they handle unfair labor practice charges, fact-findings and related employment litigation.

MNA is a non-profit association for professional negotiators and contract administrators. It gives school boards and administrators the opportunity to network with other negotiators throughout the state, up-to-date information, training in the negotiations process, and assistance with administrative contracts and effective techniques for working with public employee unions.