Arbitration Associate, Labor Affairs COE

About the role

The Arbitration Associate serves as a dedicated labor law advocate and contract advisor within the Labor Affairs COE, supporting the end-to-end grievance and arbitration process for Ford’s US hourly workforce. Reporting directly to the Arbitration Manager, the Associate is responsible for providing in-depth contractual interpretation and legal research, executing document discovery, and representing the Company’s strategic position in dispute resolution.

Responsibilities

• Supports the preparation and representation of the Company’s position for labor arbitrations, including compiling, organizing, and analyzing comprehensive case files, conducting witness preparation, and reviewing critical evidence.
• Oversees the operational execution of arbitration hearings, coordinating with key stakeholders, Umpires, and Union leadership to ensure hearing readiness and maintaining professional lines of communication with UAW counterparts.
• Manages the day-to-day execution of document production and internal evidence collection, ensuring all necessary documentation is gathered, reviewed, and organized systematically for discovery.
• Conducts detailed research on CBA provisions, Letters of Understanding, past practices, and historical arbitration precedents to support case strategy development and provide expert, legally grounded interpretation of the CBA, Letters of Understanding, and labor compliance policies.
• Provides strategic drafting and advisory support during local and national collective bargaining cycles, assisting in drafting contract language, analyzing Union proposals, and actively participating in bargaining sessions.
• Maintains and continuously updates the centralized repository of grievance files, arbitration outcomes, settlements, and best practices, ensuring data integrity for historical tracking by identifying operational trends, recurring issues, and financial impacts, and performing in-depth legal and contractual research to ensure the Company maintains consistent, defensible positions across all facilities.
• Manages the oversight of standardized labor processes by tracking compliance, identifying deviations, and reporting performance trends, analyzing local disciplinary actions across all facilities, and preparing regular dashboards and reports to help the Arbitration Manager formulate preventive labor & arbitration strategies and ensure regional consistency.
• Serves as the administrative lead and governance owner for the grievance and disciplinary tracking system, driving system adoption and data integrity across the Company, and providing timely interpretation and guidance on labor policies, Letters of Understanding, and CBA requirements to local Labor Relations and Human Resource professionals.

Qualifications

• Juris Doctor (JD) degree
• Minimum of 3-5 years of dedicated experience in Labor Relations, labor law, litigation, Human Resources, and a highly unionized corporate environment
• In-depth familiarity with grievance and arbitration procedures and collective bargaining agreements
• Demonstrated experience conducting and analyzing complex legal or contractual research and drafting persuasive briefs, submissions, and contract language
• Ability to work independently and prioritize multiple projects in a cross-functional team environment
• Prior Union contract negotiations experience
• Experience working in a highly unionized manufacturing environment (experience with the UAW is a strong plus)
• Experience supporting grievance administration or arbitration preparation
• Experience acting as a "Super-User" for case management software