Bill Laffey Email & Phone Number

Neptune City, Nj, Us

Responsible for negotiations, grievance processing, arbitration hearings, and Union/Management Meeting for all NJ American Water Locations throughout the state.

Directed Employee Relations in three-shift, 5,000 employee facility. Negotiated, authored, and updated all labor agreements. Represented the interests of plant in legal actions (e.g. wrongful terminations, discrimination claims, unemployment and worker compensation hearings. Key Member of the GM-IUE National Bargaining Committee. Responsible for employee evaluation/performance assessment process.Saved $42M in annual costs by leading the labor negotiations of the Moraine Assembly Competitive Operating Agreement.Achieved union concessions, including the elimination of unskilled maintenance classifications. Resulted in savings of $5M in annual wage expenditures, and the elimination of "non-core" skilled trades maintenance work saving $1.9M in annual wage expenditures; both strategies were later adopted at a national level by the UAW.Saved more than $27M in annual wage expenditures by implementing new "value-added" wage structure and benefits package. Negotiated full implementation with union representatives.Structured and negotiated more flexible overtime rules associated with the utilization of skilled trades employees during new product implementation and new building construction. Resulted in annualized savings of $1.1M.Successfully negotiated "no-fault" attendance language that reduced the plant's non-contractual absence rate by 40% over a three year period and became the template for improved national agreement language.Negotiated alternative work schedule provisions that eliminated restrictive overtime rules, resulting in savings of $15M annually.Led a cultural transformation that resulted in a reduction in grievance payments by 92% from 2005 through 2008. Grievance file rate was reduced by 48% during the same period.

Directed the Labor Relations team that implemented the merging of Labor Relations and Employment Office activities. Participated in and administered eight Local Agreements with Local 595 of the UAW, and was lead negotiator for four negotiations. Responsible for development and execution of agreements and prepared the contract language for the agreements. Mentored and advised plant management on performance management and union relations issues. Directed corrective action procedure and delivered disciplinary decisions in meetings attended by the impacted employee and union representation. Wrote Management's Statement of Unadjusted Grievance for a wrongful discharge case that was processed to the Umpire. Was recognized for the quality of the writing. Management's position was upheld by the Umpire.Successfully negotiated language that opened the door for lean manufacturing/GMS principles to be introduced to the Linden facility.Coordinated the placement of approximately 800 employees in non-traditional work assignments, volunteer work, and/or training.

Coached plant supervision on Labor Relations issues. Implemented local demand settlements including pay rate, transfer protocols and grievance procedures. Documented Grievance cases and General Discussion minutes. Conducted disciplinary interviews on an ad hoc basis. Coordinated the plant's PeopleSoft activity to include coordination of all manpower moves, leave of absence administration and pay issues. Responsible for Employment Law administration including ADA, EEOand FMLA compliance.

Responsible for the communication and administration of plant and corporate HR policies. Coordinated the tracking of the plant’s compliance issues, including EEO, ADA, and FMLA. Investigated and resolved employee relations issues. Responsible for coordination of annual compensation programs. Developed and implemented salaried career path / succession planning process to improve the selection process for salaried openings. Later identified as a “best practice” and replicated at other General Motors Assembly facilities. Improved the plant’s compensation program by developing the plan consider employees’ performance assessments and proximity to midpoint prior to generating system recommended wage increases. Later adopted throughout the corporation, including development of a corporate wide training class to ensure the utilization of this best practice. Coordinated the placement of and off-boarding of 60 salaried employees as part of the plant’s transition to production of a lesser volume product. As a result, no employees were placed on layoff status.