Obama appoints familiar faces to labor-management council

President Obama on Wednesday announced that he had appointed three members to the National Council on Federal Labor-Management Relations, none of whom are strangers to the panel.

Michael Filler, David Holway and H.T. Nguyen will once again join the council, created in 2009 by executive order to advise the president on matters pertaining to the federal workforce. The council is co-chaired by Office of Personnel Management Director John Berry and Office of Management and Budget Controller Danny Werfel.

Filler is the director of the public services division of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters. Holway is the president of both the National Association of Government Employees and the International Brotherhood of Police Officers, while Nguyen is the executive director and general counsel of the Federal Education Association, a state affiliate of the National Education Association that represents federally employed educators.

President Obama appointed all three to the council in February 2010. As directed by the 2009 executive order, council appointments last for two years.

“I am grateful that these accomplished individuals have agreed to play an integral role in this administration, and I’m confident they will serve ably in these important roles,” Obama said in a statement. “I look forward to working with them in the coming months and years.”

The president also designated five deputy secretaries as council members: Ashton B. Carter from the Defense Department, W. Scott Gould from the Veterans Affairs Department, Seth Harris from the Labor Department, Jane Holl Lute from the Homeland Security Department, and Kathleen Merrigan from the U.S. Agriculture Department.