Sr Director, Labor & Employee Relations

Sr Director, Labor & Employee Relations

The Senior Director, Labor & Employee Relations (LR/ER), based out of our corporate office in Oak Brook, IL, provides enterprise-wide leadership for the development and execution of a forward-looking labor and employee relations strategy that advances business objectives across Tree House Foods' U.S. and Canada manufacturing network.

This role serves as a trusted strategic advisor to the CHRO, HR Leadership Team, Operations, Legal, Finance, Plant Leadership, and site HR leaders on complex workforce, labor, and organizational matters. This position establishes the enterprise vision and governance for labor and employee relations, driving a consistent, proactive approach to collective bargaining, contract administration, grievance and arbitration strategy, union engagement, and positive employee relations across both represented and non-represented work forces.

The role is accountable for shaping labor strategy, mitigating organizational risk, strengthening leadership capability, and fostering a high-performing workplace culture that supports operational excellence, workforce stability, and long-term business success.

Labor and Employee Relations Landscape:

• Tree House Foods operates 24 manufacturing sites across the United States and Canada, including 13 sites with collective bargaining agreements and 11 non-union sites.
• Employees are represented by multiple unions across the network, including BCTGM, Teamsters/IBT, UFCW, and Unifor. Approximately 44% of the hourly workforce is covered by a CBA.
• Collective bargaining agreements generally range from 3 to 5 years, creating a recurring need for disciplined negotiation planning, cost/benefit analysis, stakeholder alignment, and implementation follow-through.
• Non-union sites require a consistent, proactive employee relations operating model focused on trust, communication, fair practices, leader capability, and early risk identification.

Role Mandate:

• Create a coherent enterprise LR/ER strategy that replaces fragmented accountability with clear ownership, consistent processes, and measurable outcomes.
• Provide senior-level strategic and tactical support to site HR leaders and plant leadership on CBA administration, labor relations, employee relations, investigations, discipline, positive employee relations, and culture-building.
• Build a practical management operating system for labor and employee relations: playbooks, governance, site readiness assessments, leader training, escalation protocols, and dashboards for risk, activity, and outcomes.
• Partner closely with Operations, Legal, Finance, Total Rewards EHS, and outside counsel to ensure labor and employee relations decisions are legally sound, operationally practical, financially informed, and culturally aligned.

Key Responsibilities:

Collective Bargaining & Labor Strategy

• Serve as first-chair spokesperson in contract negotiations and other dealings with local unions; prepare negotiation strategies, proposals, cost models, communication plans, and implementation plans.
• Develop multi-year CBA strategies that support cost containment, operational flexibility, workforce stability, and constructive labor-management relationships.
• Establish an enterprise CBA calendar and readiness process that tracks expirations, negotiation plans, economics, operational priorities, and stakeholder accountabilities.
• Build and sustain relationships with local union leadership while protecting the company's right to manage and operate the business effectively.
• Lead contingency planning for potential labor disruptions, including strike readiness, operational continuity, communications, security, staffing, customer/service impact, and site-specific response plans.

CBA Administration, Grievances & Arbitration

• Advise and counsel site HR managers, plant leaders, and field HR leadership on consistent administration of CBAs, work rules, past practice, discipline, attendance, scheduling, overtime, and other labor practices.
• Lead or oversee grievance management, arbitration preparation, settlement strategy, information requests, ULP/NLRB matters, and labor-related litigation support in partnership with Legal and external counsel.
• Create standard templates and processes for grievance tracking, documentation, investigation quality, case assessment, and escalation.

Positive Employee Relations / Union-Free Strategy

• Develop and implement a proactive positive employee relations strategy to support union-free status at non-represented locations.
• Design and deliver leader training on respectful supervision, communication, early issue resolution, policy consistency, employee feedback channels, and legal guardrails for organizing activity.
• Conduct periodic vulnerability assessments at non-union sites, partnering with HR and Operations to identify risk drivers, action plans, and follow-up mechanisms.
• Strengthen site-level practices that build trust, including round tables, plant communication plans, engagement action-planning, recognition,…