Labor Relations Negotiator

Full Job Description

The King County Office of the Executive Labor Relations team is seeking an experienced and collaborative professional to join our office as a Labor Negotiator. This is an excellent opportunity to play a role in supporting progressive labor and employee relations at King County.

This position will serve as the County's spokesperson in collective bargaining and administration of complex labor contracts, including advising on the interpretation and application of labor agreements, discharging bargaining obligations, and conducting grievance hearings.

In addition, this position may provide support in administrative hearings involving unfair labor practices, bargaining unit clarifications, union representation proceedings, classification appeals, grievances, and interest arbitration hearings.

This position also serves as a strategic advisor to management on labor and employment laws, personnel matters, contract administration and briefs senior management and elected officials on labor policies and complex and/or county-wide labor relations issues.

This position will report directly to a Labor Relations Manager and have extensive contact with all levels of County management, elected County Officials, interagency professionals, labor union representatives, and legal counsel.

ABOUT THE OFFICE OFTHE EXECUTIVELABOR RELATIONS TEAM

This team is within the Office of the Executive, with approximately 16 employees, the majority are Labor Negotiators who negotiate and help administer the County's 80 Labor Agreements covering approximately14,400employees.

To learn more about us, please check out our website at: http://www.kingcounty.gov/depts/executive/labor- relations.aspx

Requirements

Successful candidates for this position will, at a minimum, be able to clearly demonstrate skill and ability to:

Serve as the chief spokesperson on complex labor contracts by:

• Determining strategy and coordinating resources to present the County's interest in labor negotiations, advising departments and Executive Leadership on contract interpretation and application.
• Formulating proposals and drafting labor contracts and memoranda of agreement with unions that represent County employees.
• Complex decision making including seeking input and authority from labor relations leaders and other county leaders. Involving and informing managers on proposals and decisions that will impact areas where approval is required.

Serve as a strategic advisor to King County departments by:

• Consulting with management and HR professionals on labor and employment law and contract administration concerning a wide range of personnel matters, including but not limited to, performance management issues and employee disciplines.
• Formulating strategy and coordinating resources to present the County's interest in mediation, interest arbitration, grievances and grievance arbitration, unfair labor practice claims, representation petitions, and state and federal agency proceedings.

Provide strategic and tactical input on:

• Preparation and presentation of briefing materials to the Executive, Executive Committees, County Council and Council Committees and staff.

Qualifications

• Demonstrated experience with labor contract administration and labor/management committees. Desired experience in contract negotiation, mediation, and other forms of pre-litigation conflict resolution, as well as grievance and discipline analysis.
• Experience applying labor and employment law and consulting with clients and stakeholders on labor and employment issues.
• Desired experience conducting research, assistance with preparing exhibits and preparing cases for arbitration.
• Desired experience drafting language in legal documents such as; memoranda of agreement, settlement agreements, collective bargaining agreements, and grievance responses.
• Strong verbal and written communication skills.
• Ability to use organizational systems to identify priorities and manage a complicated work environment with multi-faceted needs.
• An interest in and commitment to continuous improvement.

The most qualified applicants will be able to demonstrate experience as the lead spokesperson negotiating and administering complex labor agreements for organizations with multiple stakeholders (public officials, department directors, employees, and labor unions).

The most qualified applicants will also have public sector experience in the representation of clients in labor law hearings.

Additional Information

Who May Apply

This position is open to qualified internal candidates (current employees of King County government) and external candidates.

This selection process will be used for six months to fill additional career service, term-limited temporary and special duty positions.

Application Process

The following items are required to be considered for this position:

An electronic application throughwww.kingcounty.gov/jobs or www.governmentjobs.com (use the "Apply" link) including work history and position duties.

• An attached resume.
• An attached letter of interest/cover letter.

Responses to supplemental questions. Do not copy and paste your resume or resume sections as Supplemental Question responses. If you do and the do not directly answer the question, this will be considered an incomplete application.

Your application may be rejected as incomplete if you do not include the relevant information in the application. Cover letters and/or resumes are not accepted in lieu of a completed application.

Applications and/or Supplemental Questionnaires that state "see my resume" or "see my personnel file" are considered incomplete and will not be accepted.

Work Schedule

The normal work schedule for this position is Monday through Friday, 40 hours per week. This position is not subject to the Fair Labor Standards Act and is not overtime eligible, and the incumbent will be required to work the hours necessary to meet position responsibilities.

This position will work onsite at least three (3) days per week.

Union affiliation

This position is not represented by a labor union.