Ida Klaus

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

Ida Klaus (1905–1999) was an American labor lawyer, known by the press in the 1950s and 1960s as the woman "who thinks with a man’s brain."[1]

She was born in New York City, and graduated Phi Beta Kappa from Hunter College and the Teachers Institute of the Jewish Theological Seminary of America.[1] But Columbia University Law School refused to admit her because she was a woman, and she taught Hebrew until 1928.[2] In 1928 she became one of six women accepted into Columbia University Law School's first coed class, and she graduated from there in 1931.[1]

She served as a research assistant to Columbia law professor

Wagner Act.[2][1] She also wrote the Mayor's executive order creating the first detailed code of labor relations for New York City employees.[2]

In 1961 she worked in President

Kennedy's administration as chief adviser for the first labor relations task force for federal employees.[2]

She was the chief labor negotiator for New York City's Board of Education and director of staff relations from 1962 until 1975. In 1975 she left to become a private arbitrator.[2] From 1978 to 1985 she served as a member of the New York Public Employment Relations Board.[3] In 1980 President Jimmy Carter appointed her as one of the three negotiators in the Long Island Rail Road strike.[2]

She received Columbia Law School's Medal for Excellence in 1996, and an honorary doctorate in 1994 from the Jewish Theological Seminary.[2][4]

Further reading

Breasted, Mary. "Career Labor Expert." NYTimes, January 18, 1974.
Klaus, Ida. "Program of Commencement Exercises." Jewish Theological Seminary of America, NYC, May 19, 1994.
Pomerantz, Sharon. "Ida Klaus: Making History." Masoret 3, no. 3 (Spring 1994): 8.

References

  1. ^ a b c d e "Ida Klaus | Jewish Women's Archive". Jwa.org. Retrieved 2015-05-03.
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i Ravo, Nick (1999-05-20). "Ida Klaus, 94, Labor Lawyer For U.S. and New York, Dies". The New York Times. Retrieved 2015-05-03.
  3. ^ "Board Through The Years 2". NYS Public Employment Relations Board (PERB). Retrieved 2020-10-15.
  4. .