Director Labor & Employee Relations

About the role

The Director, Labor & Employee Relations is responsible for the development and execution of labor and employee relations strategy to support a positive work environment that promotes safety and productivity, employee satisfaction, effective communication, and a culture of teamwork and trust.

Responsibilities

• Leads a team of Labor Relations professionals in developing and implementing plans that promote positive employee relations, minimize conflict, and improve employee engagement.
• Buils strong partnerships with and supports people leaders and HR professionals at non-union-represented sites across the country.
• Develops, implements, maintains, and manages the Company’s labor relations education and training programs.
• Ensures the effective implementation of labor relations and positive employee relations strategies through training and partnering with internal customers.
• Proactively identifies, assesses, trains, and supports Company locations that would benefit from a more positive environment.
• Develops and maintains relationships with employees and establishes stronger communication between employees and the Company.
• Listens to employee concerns and appropriately suggests solutions to employees and management.
• Maintains monitoring of industry trends and provides recommendations for best practices in positive employee relations.
• Investigates and handles certain employee complaints.
• Directs and/or supports representation campaigns, elections, post-campaign actions and related matters.
• Supports aspects of the collective bargaining agreement negotiation process, including occasional participation in and/or leading of negotiations and involvement in strike contingency planning.
• Provides labor relations advice to internal customers.
• Collaborates on and coordinates communications and implementation of certain company initiatives in the field.
• Supports labor relations-related aspects of potential acquisitions, including due diligence and integration.
• Provides guidance, direction, and coaching to Labor Relations team members, including assessing performance, providing feedback, and actively developing talent.

Qualifications

• Experience working in an organization with a partially unionized workforce.
• Experience working in a large, decentralized multi-state organization.
• Thorough knowledge of NLRA and other related federal and state laws.
• Proven relationship builder with strong consultative, coaching, counseling, and conflict resolution skills.
• Business acumen, be innovative, adapt well to change and work collaboratively with strategic influence to drive initiatives across a matrixed environment.
• Able to support senior level leaders in a manner that will effectively advance business strategies throughout their organizations.
• Project management and prioritization skills with proven attention to detail.
• Flexibility and ability to adapt to a diverse, fast-paced environment with changing priorities.
• Environmental services or transportation industry experience preferred.
• PURH certification preferred.
• Bilingual English and Spanish preferred.

Minimum Qualifications

• 10 years of labor relations or progressive human resources experience that includes implementing labor strategy, developing, and implementing campaign strategy, and conducting labor relations-related training.
• Experience managing or having significant involvement in union election campaigns.
• Experience interpreting collective bargaining agreements and prior involvement in the collective bargaining negotiation process.
• 3 years of people leadership experience.