Madame Arbitrator

League of Women Voters of Marion-Polk Counties former member and president Sandra Gangle has published a memoir titled Madame Arbitrator. In it Sandra tells of her early life in Brockton, Massachusetts, a blue-collar town, where she watched shoe-factory workers carry picket signs seeking fair wages and working conditions. She suffered when her single mother encountered sex discrimination in employment. She watched her mom’s lawyer fight for justice and vowed to do that work herself.

The route to becoming a lawyer and arbitrator was not easy, because Sandra was a woman. At age 34, she finally entered law school, mentored with Arbitrator Carlton Snow, and built a successful law practice focusing on employment discrimination. She taught labor law and arbitration courses part time, qualified as a labor arbitrator, then became the first woman to serve on a U.S. Postal Service panel with its three labor unions. Her arbitration practice grew steadily over 32 years because of her reputation of fair decision-making and ethical conduct.

In Madame Arbitrator Sandra explains the arbitration process. She details how she decided discipline and contract-interpretation cases. She decries the decline of unionization and recent judicial opinions affecting union survival, because of their combined effect on the American middle class.

Sandra’s book is available at Amazon. Click here for details. An e-book version will be available soon on Amazon.”

Sandra continued: “I hope that anyone who buys and reads the book will write a Review on Amazon, as that is how my reputation will grow–and the book will be noticed (hopefully).  I do think it’s timely.  My last chapter is especially appropriate for League members to read, as it goes beyond my own life story and explains the connection between the downturn in unionization and the growing power of non-union employers, which have led to wage inequity and loss of health care benefits for American workers, and ultimately to the loss of the middle class.  Frankly, that was the motivation behind my writing the book!  I support collective bargaining and have greatly appreciated having the opportunity to play a role in the union-management contractual relationships for 32 years.”