Jesse Simons, a noted labor arbitrator who four decades ago helped arrange the system of collective bargaining between New York City and its employees that remains in use today, died on Saturday at his home in Manhattan. He was 88. His work led to the creation that year of the New York City Office of Collective Bargaining, an independent city agency that has the power to mediate and arbitrate contract disputes between the city and its employees.
See "Jesse Simons, 88, Arbitrator for City Unions, Is Dead", Margalit Fox, The New York Times, July 11, 2006