Michael

Representing management clients, Mike Duffee advises companies on collective bargaining negotiations, picketing, secondary boycotts, fringe benefit claims, pension withdrawal liability, jurisdictional disputes, prevailing wage problems, occupational safety and health matters, and other union-related work. He also provides counsel on employment disputes and litigation involving claims of discrimination, harassment and wrongful termination, as well as other issues.

Mike’s practice encompasses many Chicago-area and Midwest organizations that operate in a variety of industries, particularly in construction, manufacturing, transportation and health care. He offers legal guidance to many public-sector clients, including park districts, municipalities, housing authorities and other governmental entities. Mike regularly draws on his highly regarded labor agreement negotiation skills in his longtime representations of the City of Chicago and the Chicago Transit Authority. He also serves as counsel to Taft-Hartley employee benefit funds and multi-employer associations.

Mike has bargained hundreds of contracts to completion and handled many grievances and any resulting litigation. As unionization continues to increase, clients turn to him to provide his deep insight into these complicated, esoteric issues—including some that make their way up into the highest federal courts. Mike understands how to maintain good labor relations while vigorously protecting the interests and economic viability of his employer clients.

Always taking a shrewd, practical approach, Mike determines what his clients are looking to accomplish from a business perspective; provides honest, realistic assessments of their chances of success in potential litigation; and resolves problems in the fastest and most cost-effective way possible.