Audrey B. Eide has practiced law for over forty years with an emphasis in labor law. Since 2019, she has maintained a full-time practice as a public-and private-sector arbitrator and mediator. She continues her practice as a neutral in Washington and in multiple states.

Before becoming a full-time neutral, Ms. Eide served as legal counsel for the Washington Public Employees Association and then as General Counsel for the Washington State Council of County and City Employees, Council 2, AFSCME, AFL-CIO (WSCCCE) for 27 years. In those roles, she represented unions and their members before arbitrators; the Washington State Public Employment Relations Commission; the National Labor Relations Board; Washington State superior, appellate, and supreme courts; the Washington State Personnel Appeals Board; and the Higher Education Personnel Appeals Board. She also served as lead negotiator in collective bargaining negotiations and worked with the WSCCCE Legislative Director to draft and lobby for significant legislation, including legislation recognizing corrections officers as uniformed personnel, thereby extending interest arbitration rights to those employees.

Ms. Eide is a frequent speaker and trainer, conducting training and workshops in Washington, Oregon, Montana, Hawaii, and Texas for labor, management, and front-line union and employer representatives. She has presented for the NW Chapter of the Labor and Employment Relations Association, the National Academy of Arbitrators, the Northwest Dispute Resolution Conference, the American Arbitration Association, and the Montana Arbitration and Labor Relations Conference. She also previously served as a hearing examiner for the Washington State Personnel Appeals Board.

 
Ms. Eide earned a Bachelor of Arts in Business Administration from the University of Washington in 1975 and a Juris Doctor from the University of Puget Sound School of Law (now Seattle University School of Law) in 1978. She has been elected as a fellow of the College of Labor & Employment Lawyers. She was appointed as Chair of the Public Employment Relations Commission on June 22, 2026, first to fill the vacancy of a term ending on September 8, 2026, and then to serve a five-year term through September 8, 2031.

Professor Ford is a Distinguished Practitioner in Residence at Seattle University School of Law, teaching the Workers’ Rights Clinic as well as Legal Writing.

In private practice for 25 years, Prof. Ford represented unions and individual employees. She also served as Chief Counsel for the Washington State Nurses Association and the Manager of Labor Relations for King County.

In 2005, she joined the faculty fulltime as Visiting Legal Writing Professor. She continued as a Visiting Clinical Professor, establishing and teaching the law school's first Mediation Clinic. After leaving SU to serve as the Manager of Labor Relations, Professor Ford returned to continue directing the Mediation Clinic and to develop a pilot legal skills course that incorporated dispute resolution into the second-year legal writing curriculum. In 2010, Professor Ford joined the University of Washington School of Law as Assistant Dean.

Finally, in 2015, Prof. Ford founded the Fair Work Center Legal Clinic, which is a non-profit legal services office which operates in collaboration with the Peterson Law Clinic to provide representation to low wage workers.

Professor Ford serves frequently as a mediator and arbitrator primarily in labor and employment disputes. She is a member of the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service and Public Employment Relations Commission's panel of arbitrators.

Prof. Ford publishes in the area of workplace minimum standards, labor negotiation, and clinical teaching. Her scholarship can be found here.

She was appointed to the Commission in November 2022 and her term expires in September 2028.

Henry E. Farber was appointed to the Commission on December 19, 2024. His term expires September 8, 2029.

Farber started and is ending his 45+ years in labor relations as a labor neutral. He started his career as a Field Examiner for the National Labor Relations Board in Brooklyn, NY and in Los Angeles, CA. He is now a full-time mediator and labor arbitrator. He has been selected for the American Arbitration Association, PERC, and Montana State labor arbitration panels.

In between, Farber was an attorney in private practice at Davis Wright Tremaine in Bellevue, WA and was in-house counsel at the premier department (and departed) store of Washington, Frederick & Nelson. He represented employers in labor matters and employers and individuals in employment litigation. While in private practice, Farber was consistently recognized as a top lawyer in the labor and employment field by Best Lawyers in America and Chambers USA. He spoke frequently at ABA and Washington State conferences.

Farber also taught labor law at the University of Washington School of Law, and has served on the Board of Trustees of the East King County Bar Association, the Issaquah Independent Salary Commission, and the Issaquah Civil Service Commission.
In 2014, Farber was inducted as a Fellow of the College of Labor & Employment Lawyers, a nationwide organization that promotes civility in adversarial settings.

Farber received his J.D. Degree from the University of California School of Law at Berkeley, and his undergraduate degree from Cornell University, School of Industrial and Labor Relations.