Page 36 - July 2017 Newsletter

Labor of love Representing public employee labor unions, especially coming back to work with
Chicago Lodge 7 on its upcoming contact, is a passion for Asher, Gittler & D’Alba, Ltd.
n BY MITCHELL KRUGEL
Boxes filled with binders, files, exhibits, documents and other assorted artifacts from nearly 40 years of negotiat- ing collective bargaining agreements for public employee labor unions – police, fire and otherwise – form a bunker in a conference room at the law offices of Asher, Gittler & D’Alba, Ltd. on West Jackson. Senior partner Joel D’Alba occupies a command position at the middle of the confer- ence table. More files are piled up around him; a legal pad etched with notes sits in front with some torn off pages set up in reference formation.
Clearly, D’Alba is in the trenches here. He is thick into the firm’s preparation for representing Chicago Lodge 7 in its upcoming collective bargaining agreement negotiations with the City that will be perhaps the most challenging, meticulous and emotional covenant ever for nearly 15,000 active and retired Chicago Police Officers. Along with se- nior partners Leonard Elberts, Margaret Angelucci and Ryan Hagerty – and in the legacy founding partners Mar- vin Gittler and Lester Asher created – D’Alba leads the most well-equipped and powerful team in public labor law with a brilliance that evokes Aristotle, Sun Tzu, Yoda and maybe even a little Moses.
“I mean this from my heart: Joel is a warrior,” praises Illinois State Troopers Lodge 41 President Joe Moon, who
36 CHICAGO LODGE 7 ■ JULY 2017
watched D’Alba save his members thousands of dollars in their recent contract negotiation. “I would not want to go into a negotiation with a major city or state without some- one like Joel by my side. It’s amazing to sit at a negotiations table and listen to him quote case law and labor law.”
Listening to D’Alba inventory the boxes that store the documents from the inaugural and historical Lodge 7 con- tract D’Alba and Gittler negotiated in 1980 is the first piece of evidence that he is the right man for the job this year. He can cite reams of labor law and case law off the top and in the heat of negotiations because he wrote a lot of it. And Asher, Gittler & D’Alba brings more than 65 years of ex- pertise, strategy and bargaining table savvy serving police, fire, teachers and other public employees to what will be a tumultuous, and probably even contentious, FOP contract confrontation.
“Representing workers and unions is an important part of my life,” the soft-spoken and highly humble D’Alba sub- mits. “This contract is going to be a challenge, but it’s an honor and privilege to be representing the Chicago FOP.” Dedication to police
The way of this firm has always been to let actions speak louder, and D’Alba has authored some good deeds that have pumped up the volume on honoring of law enforce- ment. On his officer door, D’Alba has posted a photo of Thor Soderberg, the Chicago Police Officer who was shot