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NMB installs Hamilton as chair

The National Mediation Board (NMB) installed Deirdre Hamilton as chair on July 1. Her one-year term will expire on June 30, 2024.

Gerald Fauth III and Linda Puchala will continue to serve as NMB members. Puchala most recently chaired the board from July 1, 2022, to June 30, 2023.

Hamilton joined the NMB in December 2021. She previously was a staff attorney for the International Brotherhood of Teamsters — working exclusively with its airline division — and a staff attorney for the Association of Flight Attendants. She began her career as a legal fellow in the general counsel’s office at the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers.

During her career, Hamilton has handled a wide range of legal matters, including NMB elections and mediation, collective bargaining support, contract enforcement and litigation of Railway Labor Act issues, NMB officials said in a press release.

She also has served as a panelist at meetings organized by the American Bar Association’s Labor and Employment Law Committee and the Railway and Airline Labor Law Committee.

An independent agency, the NMB governs labor management relations in the railroad and airline industries.