Union Relationship Specialist in London

As the Union Relationship Specialist you are responsible for supporting the creation and delivery of effective Employee and Industrial Relations with our Unions across the business, providing support to line managers to ensure union related matters are dealt with in a timely and appropriate manner in line with our Employee Relations strategy. You will be responsible for developing and activating the union relationship strategy.

What I am accountable for:

• Developing strong working relationships with Union representatives, including at senior level (e.g. National Officers) by understanding the complexities that may exist, establishing credibility and gaining a reputation as a trusted advisor with a detailed working knowledge of the tactical aspects of both Employee Relations (ER) and Industrial Relations (IR) issues.
• Designing and developing the ER/IR strategy to ensure ER/IR risks are identified, monitored and mitigated to enable the objectives of the business to be delivered.
• Responsible for the daily implementation of the ER/IR and Union Relationship strategy which will include daily/weekly liaison with Union officials.
• Drafting reports and papers providing insight and recommendations for the impact of change on the ER/IR climate with limited direction.
• Ensuring that a cross divisional view of the pay negotiations process and also any ER/IR risks across all in-house and external third parties are known and guided to minimise union unrest/action.
• Proactively keeping all key stakeholders informed of key Union activity.
• Supporting and guiding the relevant change teams and wider business with regard to a broad and wide range of Union consultation or negotiation processes or considerations associated with business change, in line with the respective National Agreements.
• Utilising broad, detailed and specialist ER/IR experience to support with the resolution of day to day queries relating to ER/IR matters across the business demonstrating exemplary judgement to ensure provision of balanced advice that manages risk but which drives commercially suitable end results.
• Managing PIR activity as required to ensure both successes and opportunities are captured in an honest and robust way that reflects the success of ER/IR initiatives and wage negotiation strategies and approaches to gain greater consistency and engagement of future programmes.
• Identifying and interpreting current and future ER/IR legislation working collaboratively with a variety of stakeholders to provide relevant and up to date guidance and support.
• Supporting, coaching and up skilling managers and business leaders on a broad range of ER/IR matters and in particular with regard to existing Union agreements and ways of working.
• Managing all budgetary matters relating to Union spend, as required.
• Developing robust communication plans, including writing appropriate communications for external use, to proactively engage with Unions where required to help maintain a stable ER/IR landscape.
• Providing advice and recommendations on ER/IR tactics/approach to the respective leadership teams.

What I need to know:

• Proven hands-on experience of working with Unions, preferably in both a Retail and Logistics environment.
• Specialist working knowledge and experience of advising senior leaders on the handling and mitigation of union activity which may impact the business.
• Extensive experience of planning and delivering ER/IR initiatives with a high level of discretion and confidentiality.
• Ability to build great relationships and influence both internal customers and external Union officials at a National level.
• Experience of working at a strategic and operational level with a high level of PC literacy, numeracy, language and attention to detail.
• Proven ability to organise and prioritise workload and to work on own initiative with confidence.
• Ability to produce, analyse and interpret data identifying opportunities and forming well considered recommendations.
• An engaging and articulate communicator with the experience and ability to inspire and provide confidence both in verbally and in written communications.
• A broad and thorough understanding of employment legislation with proven extensive experience in dealing with complex employee relations cases, influencing at a senior level.
• Extensive experience of working in an efficient change environment with the ability to coach and support line managers through transition.
• Play a leading role in the design and implementation of an effective ER/IR strategy.
• Actively supporting the delivery of comprehensive business change by mitigating the ER/IR risks.
• Displays confidence in the presence of senior people, responding in an appropriate manner to challenge and influence, remaining optimistic in the face of obstacles.
• Commercially aware with extensive business and wider industry ER/IR knowledge.
• Understands the relevant importance of issues, can balance risk and make judgements on dealing with the urgent versus the important.