Opposition to union lawyer Murphy for Civil Service Comm.

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Don Zimmerman
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Joined: Fri Jan 09, 2015 11:05 am

Opposition to union lawyer Murphy for Civil Service Comm.

Post by Don Zimmerman »

For immediate release
May 14, 2015
Contact: Joe Petronis, Chief of Staff, City Council Member Don Zimmerman, (512) 978-2106

AUSTIN—CM Zimmerman will be voting against Michael Murphy for the Municipal Civil Service Commission.

Last week, Austin City Council Members expressed objections to Captain Antonio Buehler for the Public Safety Commission, citing concerns that he could not serve with an “objective” point of view regarding police policy.

According to a 2014 Form LM-2 Labor Organization Annual Report, attorney Michael Murphy was paid over $36,000 for representing union members in labor disputes. In the same fashion a defense lawyer must not be considered “objective” when representing the best interests of a defendant, it should be impossible for Mr. Murphy to be “objective” when considering labor-management issues on the Municipal Civil Service Commission.

Further background on Mr. Murphy based on the Glenda Pittman & Associates PC website.

• Mr. Murphy is an Associate in the law office of Glenda Pittman and Associates, P.C. He became a “union-side” labor lawyer after coming up through the ranks of a construction labor union.

• Mr. Murphy joined IBEW, Local 520, in 1993, after having worked many years in the non-union sector as an electrical worker. He completed an apprenticeship with IBEW and became a journeyman electrician in 1998.

• After 1998, Mr. Murphy became a full-time organizer with IBEW Local 520 where he learned the rudiments of labor and employment law topics such as organizing under the National Labor Relations Act, and prevailing wages.

• Mr. Murphy received his Bachelor’s Degree in Labor Studies from the National Labor College in Silver Spring, Maryland. He took his union-organizing experience to the University of Texas School of Law, where he graduated with honors in 2010. While attending law school, he worked part-time at the “union-side” labor law firms of Deats, Durst, Owen & Levy as well as Glenda Pittman & Associates—both of Austin, Texas.

• Mr. Murphy’s work has included issues arising for unions in collective bargaining, labor arbitrations, and in both unfair labor practice and representation proceedings before the National Labor Relations Board.

• Mr. Murphy has served as a research assistant to Professor Julius Getman and has participated in the University of Texas School of Law’s Transitional Workers Rights Clinic where he helped to pioneer an innovative method of enforcing the Texas Prevailing Wage statute.

• Mr. Murphy has previously served on the City of Austin’s Construction Advisory Committee, overseeing enforcement of prevailing wage requirements on City projects. He has also served on the Austin Independent School District’s Prevailing Wage Subcommittee, tasked with oversight of the District’s prevailing wage survey in 2006.
Don Zimmerman
Council Member District 6 (northwest Austin)