Madge M BlakeyMadge M. Blakey has been active in California labor-management relations for forty years. She began her career in labor relations at a municipal water district. In 1975 when agencies were implementing the Meyers-Milias-Brown Act, she was hired as a mmber of the first labor relations staff at the County of San Diego. One of the few women in the field, she built a reputation as a shrewd negotiator and rose to Director of Labor Relations. During her tenure, Madge worked to remove an onerous salary comparability requirement from the County Charter, to move salary setting authority from the Civil Service Commission to the Board of Supervisors, to rewrite, negotiate and successfully implement a new Labor Relations Ordinance, to create a highly successful Discipline Case Advocacy Institute. a week-long training camp for County and local public agency human resources personnel to learn case presentation. Over the years she negotiated labor agreements with 15 unions covering 20,000 employees through good and bad times and managed to right longstanding discrepancies while building positive labor management relations, leaving the County with five-year agreements with all unions when she retired. An early member of the California Public Employee Association (Calpelra), she served on the board, and with Carol Stevens, developed the organization's first budget and administrative policies. Madge served as Calpelra President in 19889. In 1995, she and William F. (Bill) Kay created the he Calpelra Labor Relations Academy, a hugely successful program that has allowed hundreds of professionals to earn certification as Masters of Labor Relations (CLRM. Bill and Madge are the creators/co-directors of the Academy. As President of Madge M. Blakey & Associates, Madge provides labor relations consulting services to public agencies with an emphasis on training and coaching agency staff to build in-house skills in negotiating and dealing with employee organizations and unions. A lecturer and writer, Madge's articles have appeared in professional journals. In 1997, she was the subject of a profile "Close Up: An Interview With Madge M. Blakey," CPER Journal No. 122. Elected offices: 1994 President of San Diego Chapter, Industrial Relations Research Assoc. (now LEERA); 1998 President Calpelra, 1999, President, National Public Employee Labor Relations Assoc. Honors and Awards: 1996: California Women in Government honoree for local government 1998; Calpelra Award of Excellence 1999: Npelra President's Award 2000: Npelra Award of Excellence 2000: YWCA Tribute to Women & Industry (TWIN) honoree 2003: Southern California Public Labor Relations Council Award of Excellence 2003 Named CALPELRA Pioneer 2014: Calpelra's annual Award of Excellence was renamed "Madge M. Blakey Award of Excellence" Read More Read Less