Wade M. Fricke

Traditional Labor Experience – Collective Bargaining

Wade has extensive experience working with unionized public and privately-held companies of all sizes – from over $15 billion in annual sales to less than $1 million in annual sales. Wade has negotiated over 100 collective bargaining agreements and shut down agreements across the country with a variety of unions, including the Teamsters, the Steelworkers, the Auto Workers, the Machinists, the Food and Commercial Workers, the UE, and UNITE HERE. He has successfully first-chaired over 100 contract interpretation and discipline arbitration cases with most of those unions.

Traditional Labor Experience – Campaign Work

In non-union settings, Wade has served as the point person advisor for over 100 objection-free R-case elections at companies of all sizes across the country. Those campaigns were for clients in heavy manufacturing, light manufacturing, retail, higher education, logistics, and numerous other fields.

Training and Preventative Maintenance

Wade has developed and implemented a simple, user-friendly management training and preventative maintenance issue identification program that he has delivered all over the country. His training sessions have occurred around-the-clock in front of all sizes of audiences in a variety of industries to accommodate all shifts and impact as many managers as possible, and his preventative maintenance issue identification analysis consistently has been credited with saving his clients significant time, energy and resources.

Education

• J.D., Washington and Lee University, 1989
• A.B., Princeton University, 1984

Admission to Practice

• Ohio

• Cleveland Metropolitan Bar Association
• Ohio Bar Association
• American Bar Association
• Fellow, Cleveland Metropolitan Bar Foundation
• American Employment Law Council
• Labor and Employment Relations Association, Northeast Ohio Chapter
• The Ohio Management Lawyers Association
• The Court of Nisi Prius

• Labor Law Solutions – “Policy Drafting: It’s Open Season (Again) on Employee Handbooks and More!” – Nashville – December 8, 2022
• Labor Law Solutions – “Critical Board Developments” – Las Vegas – December 3, 2021
• Labor Law Solutions – “Pardon the Interruption!—Labor Style” – Las Vegas – December 2, 2021
• Labor Law Solutions – “Unions Gone Wild” – Las Vegas – December 2, 2021
• Labor Law Solutions – “Charities, Politics, Unions, and Access in the Workplace” – December 3, 2020
• Ogletree Deakins Seminar – “State of the Union: What’s at Stake and Anticipated Changes in Employment Laws” – October 7, 2020
• Labor Law Solutions – “Step One: Preparing for the Bargaining Table” – Nashville – December 2019
• Labor Law Solutions – “Grievance and Arbitration Strategies” – Las Vegas – December 2018
• Labor Law Solutions – “Interactive Campaign Workshop, Round 3: After a Campaign Win” – Las Vegas – December 2018
• Not Your Father’s Labor Environment: The New Orizon – “Wacky Cases: NLRB Style” – Las Vegas – December 2017
• Workplace Strategies Seminar – “Workplace Strategies “TED Talks”: Embracing Diversity in Divisive Times” – San Diego – May 2017
• Workplace Strategies Seminar – “Headline News – The Perfect Start to Your Workplace Strategies” – Chicago – May 2016
• Not Your Father’s NLRB – “Labor Law Jeopardy” – Las Vegas – December 2015
• Not Your Father’s NLRB – “Ambush Survivors: Lessons Learned from the Battlefield” – Las Vegas – December 2015
• Workplace Strategies Seminar – “The Three Ps of the NLRA: Policies, PCA, and Purple” – San Antonio – May 2015
• Ohio State Bar Association Annual Midwest Labor and Employment Law Seminar – “NLRB Update” – Columbus – October 2014
• Ogletree Deakins Seminar – “Washington, DC NLRB and DOL Update” – Cleveland and Columbus – August 2014
• Ohio Management Lawyers Association Spring Meeting – “NLRB Update” – Columbus – May 2014
• Workplace Strategies Seminar – “Leveraging Your Union Relationships to Your Business Advantage” – Las Vegas – May 2014
• Ogletree Deakins Seminar – “Handling a Mass Reduction in Force” – Cleveland – November 2013
• Ogletree Deakins Seminar – “Responding to Changes Coming Out of Washington, D.C.” – Cleveland – August 2013
• Ogletree Deakins Seminar – “Recognizing and Responding to Early Signs of Union Activity” – Washington – June 2013
• Ogletree Deakins Seminar – “Inside the Beltway Wrap-Up” – Cleveland – August 2012
• Workplace Strategies Seminar – “Wild, Wild West Wrap-Up: Key Takeaways from Workplace Strategies 2012” – Phoenix – May 2012
• Workplace Strategies Seminar – “Are You Ready to Rumble? A Union Campaign Workshop” – Phoenix – May 2012
• Not Your Father’s NLRB – “Anti-Business Regulations to Make Union Organizing Easier” – Las Vegas – March 2012
• Not Your Father’s – “A One-Two Punch – Two Dramatic Regulations That Will Mark a Sea Change in Union Organizing” – New Orleans – October 2011
• Ogletree Deakins Seminar – “NLRB Update” – Cleveland – August 2011
• Workplace Strategies Seminar – “Windy City Summary: Gale Force Takeaways from Workplace Strategies 2011” – Chicago – May 2011
• Ogletree Deakins Seminar – “The Obama NLRB: What to Expect and How to Prepare” – Cleveland – August 2010
• Workplace Strategies Seminar – “What Happens in Vegas Shouldn’t Stay in Vegas: The Top 10 Things You Should Take Away from Workplace Strategies 2010” – Las Vegas – May 2010
• Workplace Strategies Seminar – “Ten Key Take-Aways from Workplace Strategies 2009” – Miami – May 2009
• Workplace Strategies Seminar – “Agency Action – New Rules, Regs and Rulings Affecting Employers” – Phoenix – May 2007

• April 2013 – Ogletree Deakins Publication – “State Legislatures Take Up Renewed Call for Right-to-Work Legislation After Indiana And Michigan Pass Laws”

• July 3, 2014 – Chief Learning Officer – “Learning to Work With Unions”
• February 4, 2013 – Crain's Cleveland Business – “Former Public Officials Face Not-So-Private Changes”
• February 14, 2011 – Law360 – “NLRB Ruling a Warning Against Preemptive Firing”

• Fellow, College of Labor and Employment Lawyers
• Ohio Super Lawyers
• Recognized in The Best Lawyers in America®
  • Employment Law – Management (2008-2025)
  • Labor Law – Management (2008-2025)
• Chambers USA – America’s Leading Lawyers for Business
• AV rated with Martindale-Hubbell