On that day, he was flying to Oklahoma City and, then, driving to Elk City, Oklahoma in order to arbitrate a dispute between the US Postal Service and the American Postal Workers Union there over a staffing issue. In fact, Helburn has often arbitrated contract interpretation and discipline issues in the past at many other US Post offices in the Southwest and Southeast, as he has also done at Federal Express and Southwest Airlines too, among others.

For Beber, his typical Tuesday-Thursday weekly schedule now does not represent as much "a reinvention as more of an evolution," he said. As an exception, he commented that he was willing to take a Southwest Airlines case on Monday because, unlike many clients, Southwest Airlines and its unions are willing to set cases for Monday hearings. Further, he sometimes but not always works long hours to get disputes resolved. Please bear in mind that before his "official" retirement from UT Austin, he was certainly able to pepper his Graduate B-School lectures with many real world examples that sometimes were "stranger than fiction," he concluded.

Today, Helburn may hear two or even three cases, each in a different location, and maybe each in a different state, in the course of a week. This labor arbitrator currently experiences a 50-55% settlement rate, before the parties get to Beber. Often, he said just the threat of an imposed resolution rather than a voluntary settlement motivates the conflicting parties to reach an agreement before meeting with him.

In fact, a tactic that he often uses in these situations goes something like this. Before beginning the hearing, Helburn will tell the opposing parties that perhaps they should each "take one last shot at it" in an attempt to reach a settlement that both sides can accept. In fact, he told me that this tactic, by itself, periodically results in a settlement.

When he's not dealing with arbitration matters, Helburn stays involved as the co-chair of a $10.5 million capital campaign for Congregation Beth Israel in Austin, Texas. Others have served more total times as president than he has, but he is the only one in the congregation's 128 year history to have served two separate terms (10 years apart) as president.

Helburn, who turned 65 in August, 2003 now qualifies for Medicare plus he and his wife Judith, whom he met on the first day of freshman English at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, also continue to receive medical coverage through his university group health insurance plan. Judith and Beber have two married children and four grandchildren living nearby. Judith is a Certified Sageing Leader for the Spiritual Eldering Institute. She has also been active in and on the board of Story Circle Network for Women with Stories to Tell, which has been organized as an international organization since 1998.

Over the years, this stalwart adopted Texan has written books and monographs such as "Public Employer-Employee Relations in Texas: Contemporary and Emerging Developments" (1971), he has contributed chapters and proceedings toward a better understanding within his profession, he has written articles for professional journals and published teaching cases.

In conclusion, we should certainly realize that there will always be labor disputes, which will continue to provide valuable work for a seasoned professional like I. B. Beber Helburn. While not an employee, this independent contractor does perform a valuable function for our economy as a whole. Plus, he continues to be well compensated, too, for his time (including travel) and his skilled arbitration efforts.

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