Senior Director of Labor and Employee Relations, Zum
$292-328.5k
More information about location
Student transportation services
Be an early applicant
Student transportation services
201-500 employees
Be an early applicant
$292-328.5k
More information about location
201-500 employees
Company mission
To bring student transporation into a new era enabling greater safety, sustainability, equity, and transparency.
Role
Who you are
- You will have deep knowledge of how to handle delicate and sensitive employee matters paired with a unique ability to navigate the complexities of Zūm’s business
- Experience working in a multi-state and unionized environment is a must-have
- Demonstrated business savvy to effectively communicate and work with other executives and leaders in support of achieving business goals
- Deep understanding of the financial aspects of labor relations, including wage and benefits costs
- Excellent organizational and interpersonal skills
- Ability to manage competing priorities between multiple business units
- Develops cost models for use during economic negotiations
- Advanced facilitation, mediation, advocacy, and interpersonal skills to cope with conflicting points of view, function under pressure while demonstrating integrity, fair-mindedness and a persuasive, confident persona
- Labor and employee relations experience in a multi-contract, multi-union, complex environment
- 10-12 yrs of relevant experience
What the job involves
- Reporting to our Chief People Officer, this People Leader will play a critical role in building and leading our Labor and Employee Relations function at Zūm
- This role will work with our field locations across 15 states and counting
- Drive Zum’s national Labor Relations Strategy: Develop and implement a comprehensive employee and labor relations strategy that aligns with the organization's mission, values, and legal requirements across multiple jurisdictions
- Demonstrated ability in complex labor negotiations and experience as first chair negotiator
- Manages union contracts and is responsible for developing and maintaining relationships with union leadership and agents
- Prepares and negotiates initial and renewal labor agreements in accordance with line of business and corporate mandates
- Working knowledge and interpretation of the National Labor Relations Act
- Represent the Company in arbitrations and before the National Labor Relations Board
- Effectively respond to union organizing activity and train managers on employee relations matters including card check neutrality (CCN) campaigns
- Prepares for and assists Operations, regional leadership and HR in dealing with potential labor disputes, strikes, work stoppages and other concerted activity
- Prepares and distributes contract settlement summaries to operations managers, HR partners and regional leadership
- Collaborates with other departments including HR, Operations, Finance, Security, Corporate Communications, Legal and Compliance
- Advise and assist HR and Operations on complex unionized employee investigations; ensuring adherence to the CBA , and compliance with federal, state, and local laws and regulations
- Manages complex situations, in partnership with Operations and HR, relating to union grievances, labour disputes, past precedences, and other unique employment issues with bargained for employees
- Partners with Operations, HR, and Legal to review and respond to grievances, legal charges, and other formal communication to union representatives
- Policy Development: Collaborate with Operations and HR leadership to develop, update, and enforce policies and procedures related to employee and labor relations, ensuring they are culturally appropriate, legally compliant, and operate within the management rights of the CBA
- Compliance: Monitor and interpret changes in Federal and State specific employment laws, labor laws and regulations; ensuring the organization's policies and practices remain compliant and adapt to emerging trends
- Analyze labor costs, trends, and operational impact of contractual provisions
- Provide executive summaries and recommendations to leadership on labor strategy, risk, and opportunities
- Collaborate with finance and operations to forecast wage/benefit costs and budget impacts
Our take
The largest mass transit system in the US is student transportation, and it’s more than double the size of all others combined. It’s rife with inefficiencies, however: circuitous routes mean many students are spending more time travelling and less time sleeping, exercising, or participating in enrichment activities, affecting student outcomes and inequalities.
Zum is looking to overhaul school transport with the help of cloud computing and AI. It has a central hub from which it manages route planning and vehicle assignments across 4,000 areas and school districts in California, meaning fleet deployment, maintenance, and operational efficiency can be optimized. It also offers cameras and tracking in vehicles, and is committed to having a fully electric, 10,000-strong bus fleet by 2025.
It's an ambitious plan, but it’s clear that the US school busing system is in dire need of an overhaul. We’re seeing startups like Via offer a similar service to NY schools, gathering similarly strong momentum. With Zum fast approaching Unicorn status, and its California roll-out continuing without a hitch, it appears, for now, to be leading the modern student transportation startup pack.
Kirsty
Company Specialist at Welcome to the Jungle
Insights
18% employee growth in 12 months
Company
Funding (last 2 of 7 rounds)
Jun 2024
$32m
GRANT
Jan 2024
$140m
SERIES E
Total funding: $368.8m
Company benefits
- Medical, dental and vision benefits, including paid membership to One Medical
- Unlimited vacation policy
- Free daily catered lunches + fully stocked kitchen at HQ
- Ability to have a huge impact at an early-stage, mission-driven startup
- Fun office culture and a team you would be proud to work with
Company HQ
Redwood Shores, Redwood City, CA
Leadership
Ritu Narayan
(Co-Founder & CEO)Worked as a Lead Product Manager at Yahoo!, eBay, then took up a Sloan Fellowship at the Stanford Graduate School of Business.
Vivek Garg
(Co-Founder & COO)Spent over a decade as a Major in the Indian Army, then went on to found and lead BAPAR, before taking up a Researcher role at Stanford University's SEED Institute.
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