Paul Roose, Arbitrator
& Mediator
Paul D. Roose is an arbitrator and mediator based in Oakland, CA. He is a member of the National Academy of Arbitrators. Paul is available for arbitration, fact finding, mediation, training and facilitation. Paul left the California State Mediation and Conciliation Service (CSMCS) in May 2012 to establish a practice as an independent arbitrator and mediator. He was head of the CSMCS from 2005–2012, and served as a mediator at CSMCS until his promotion in 2005. See Paul’s complete biography below.
Arbitrator and mediator Paul Roose has been a leader in the field of labor relations for over thirty years. In May 2012, he left his position as the head of the California State Mediation and Conciliation Service (CSMCS) to launch a private practice as a labor-management neutral. In May 2018, he was inducted into the National Academy of Arbitrators.
Following graduation from Swarthmore College in 1974, Paul worked as a letter-sorting machine operator and then as a letter carrier for the U.S Postal Service. After becoming active in his union as a shop steward, Paul was elected at age 29 to serve as full-time president of the National Association of Letter Carriers (NALC) Greater East Bay Branch 1111. He was re-elected to three more two-year terms as branch president prior to leaving the NALC in 1991 to serve as a field representative and lead field representative with Healthcare Workers Service Employees International Union Local 250. While at Local 250, Paul represented workers at the City and County of San Francisco, American Medical Response, and Kaiser-Permanente.
In 1998, Paul landed his “dream job” as a mediator for the state mediation service. Over the next fourteen years, Paul helped employers and unions reach contract agreements in hundreds of school districts, cities, counties, special districts, transit districts, trial courts, community colleges, and in public higher education. He helped avert strikes in high-profile disputes between unions and employers at Bay Area Rapid Transit, the Port of Oakland, the University of California, San Joaquin County, and the San Francisco Unified School District, among others. He conducted hundreds of grievance mediations in both the public and private sectors, and trained parties in collective bargaining and other labor-management processes.
As supervising conciliator of the CSMCS from 2005–2012, Paul continued to mediate disputes of high potential economic and social impact in the state. He recruited, hired, mentored and coached new mediators. Paul also administered an arbitration system that included 120 arbitrators and over 600 arbitrator list requests a year.
Paul has published several articles about arbitration and mediation, including “Surviving Your First Labor Arbitration: Tips for the New Advocate” with co-author Catherine Harris, published in the March 2015 edition of the American Arbitration Association’s flagship Dispute Resolution Journal. From 2008 to 2011, he served on the Executive Board of the Association of Labor Relations Agencies.
Paul left the state mediation service in May 2012 to found Golden Gate Dispute Resolution (GGDR). The mission of GGDR is to provide professional, neutral, and timely dispute resolution services to the labor-management community. Paul serves as an arbitrator, mediator, fact finder, trainer and facilitator.
Paul is on the American Arbitration Association Labor Panel, the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service arbitrator roster, the National Mediation Board Roster of Arbitrators, the California State Mediation and Conciliation Service arbitrator panel, the Nevada Employee-Management Relations Board Mediators Roster, the Oregon Employment Relations Board Panel of Arbitrators and Factfinders, the Washington Public Employment Relations Commission Dispute Resolution Panel, the California Public Employment Relations Board’s roster of MMBA fact finders, and the City of Los Angeles roster of arbitrators. He is the permanent umpire for California State University (CSU) and the California State University Employees Union for probationary release appeals. He also serves as a member of the arbitrator panels for BART (ATU and SEIU), City and County of San Francisco and SEIU, the CSU and Teamsters /State Employees Trades Council (Permanent Umpire & Arbitration) and CSUEU (Permanent Umpire), Health Right 360 and SEIU, Santa Clara County (SEIU, County Counsel Attorneys Assoc., County Employees Management Association), Santa Clara County IHSS and SEIU, Stanford University and SEIU, the University of California (AFSCME, AFT, Teamsters, UAPD, UAW, UPTE), University of California – Davis and IAFF, Brentwood (CA) Union School District (Brentwood Teachers’ Association and CSEA), AT&T Norcal and CWA, CA Pacific Medical Ctr. - NUHW. He was also named permanent mediator for the CSU and the CA Faculty Association.
Paul lives in Oakland, California with his wife Anne Lawrence. They have two daughters and two granddaughters, and divide their time between the San Francisco Bay Area and Boston, Massachusetts.