Feuille Receives Award

Feuille Receives Award

The Labor and Employment Relations Association tapped Peter “Pete” Feuille for its Lifetime Achievement Award Monday, Dec. 8. Feuille received the award at a luncheon at the University of Illinois’ School of Labor and Employment Relations, where LERA’s home offices are located.

He was instrumental in relocating LERA headquarters from the University of Wisconsin to the University of Illinois in 1999. He was named LERA secretary-treasurer in January 2000. He served until November 2014.

Feuille was a member of LERA dating back to its days as a student at UC-Berkeley in 1971 when LERA was known as the Industrial Relations Research Association. A regular attendee at IRRA-LERA Annual Meetings, he was a chair or discussant in 1979, 1980, 1986, 1987, 1992, 1993, 1994, 1996, 1997, 1999 and 2000.

LERA president Martin Mulloy conferred LERA’s highest honor on Pete. The LERA and university crowd gave Pete a standing ovation. Pete’s spouse Suzie was on hand for the celebration.

Mulloy lauded Feuille as the “most thorough individual I’ve ever met. He got everything done and done right.”

Past LERA president Joel Cutcher-Gershenfeld said, “Every organization should have Pete Feuille as secretary-treasurer.”

Feuille said he was “touched” by the award, the plaudits and gentle collegial joshing. “I will remember and honor this day with deep appreciation,” he said.

As LERA’s secretary-treasurer, Pete worked quietly and efficiently behind the scenes in the background, keeping LERA’s official business straight, signing the checks and working with the association’s executive directors.

Former LERA executive director Paula Wells said: “I loved working for him. He never micromanaged me, but he could be lightening fast diving into the teeniest micro details of any report or issue.

“He was always there when I knocked on his door. … Yes, he asked tough questions. But once he was convinced, he supported and fought for the changes needed to move the organization forward.”

Feuille was on the University of Illinois faculty for 37 years and was director of the Labor and Employment Institute from 1994-2006,

Feuille’s areas of academic expertise were broad and deep: human resources and organizational behavior; industrial relations, labor and industry studies; labor economics and labor market institutions; labor employment law, public policy and ethics; international cross-cultural and sociological studies; and socio-technical systems.

On his LinkedIn page, Pete describes himself as an “independent alternative dispute resolution professional.” He  completed more than 600 workplace-dispute mediations and arbitrations in his career.

He was author or co-author of books on police unionism, final-authority arbitration and public sector labor relations (three editions). HIs co-authors on the latter were past LERA presidents Thomas A. Kochan (MIT) and David Lewin (UCLA). Fuel was also widely published in academic journals. 

Feuille taught workplace dispute resolution, collective bargaining and industrial relations at the University of Illinois. He was also an instructor in the U of I’s Labor Education, Management Education, Executive Development Center and the Institute of Government and Public Affairs programs.

The School of Labor and Employment Relations announced a new student scholarship fund. The first scholarship recipient will be the Peter Feuille Scholar.

Feuille received his B.A. in history (cum laude) from Claremont McKenna College in 1967 and his doctorate in industrial relations and organizational behavior from the University of California-Berkeley School of Business in 1973.

In addition to the University of Illinois, Feuille taught at the State University of New York at Buffalo, the University of Oregon and UC-Berkeley.