Coordinate jurisdiction-specific employment review for wage and hour, classification, tips, leave, accommodations, EEO, discipline, and separation.
Labor Relations
U.S.-based · Global reach
Union, CBA & Arbitration Services
Effective labor relations require credibility with employees, disciplined preparation, accurate operating and financial facts, consistent contract administration, and a clear understanding of what proposed terms mean on the floor. Cole supports management through union strategy, collective bargaining agreement preparation and negotiations, costing and operational impact analysis, communication and ratification planning, grievance handling, labor-management meetings, and arbitration preparation. We help leadership protect continuity, respect represented employees, strengthen supervisor capability, document decisions, and convert negotiated commitments into workable operating practices while coordinating closely with qualified labor counsel whenever legal advice or representation is required.
What this work is designed to deliverMore constructive labor relations, better-prepared negotiations, executable agreements, disciplined grievance handling, and stronger management readiness for ratification or arbitration.
Discuss this capability How we help
Senior expertise.
Practical execution.
We build a single fact base linking contract language, workforce history, operating requirements, financial effects, and employee concerns. Leadership enters negotiations with costed positions and decision authority, while supervisors are prepared to administer the agreement consistently and preserve respectful day-to-day labor relations after ratification.
Our operating approachNo seagull management. We can enter at the diagnostic, planning, implementation, stabilization, or ongoing-advisory stage—and remain accountable through execution, adoption, and a sustainable handoff.
Assess unit scope, recognition, agreement language, past practice, grievances, unfair-labor-practice exposure, workforce sentiment, and bargaining deadlines.
Develop costed proposals for wages, benefits, scheduling, seniority, overtime, work rules, subcontracting, discipline, technology, and management rights.
Prepare bargaining authority, issue logs, packages, scenarios, communications, continuity plans, records, and coordination with labor counsel.
Support negotiations, tentative agreements, accurate costing, ratification planning, employee communication, implementation, and payroll or policy changes.
Improve steward and management meetings, grievance intake, investigations, timelines, responses, settlements, records, and consistent contract administration.
Prepare mediation or arbitration chronologies, exhibits, witnesses, operating evidence, remedy analysis, and post-decision implementation alongside counsel.
Details that protect the work
What clients cannot afford to discover too late.
Requirements vary by jurisdiction and operating model. We identify the dependencies early, assign ownership, maintain the evidence, and coordinate licensed specialists wherever professional authority is required.
Maintain I-9s, notices, acknowledgments, training, certifications, investigations, personnel records, retention, and confidentiality correctly.
Address workers’ compensation, unemployment, benefits, payroll tax, background checks, workplace safety, harassment, violence, and emergency response.
For represented teams, protect bargaining obligations, past practice, grievance timelines, supervisor consistency, and counsel coordination.
When to bring us in
Before a decision.
During a transition.
When performance slips.
Build or launch
Get the structure, economics, people, systems, and controls right before opening or expansion.
Fix or stabilize
Step into an urgent gap, stop leakage, restore accountability, and protect the business.
Improve or grow
Strengthen the operating platform before scaling, transacting, refinancing, or adding leadership.
Flexible engagement
Focused project
A defined issue, deliverable, timeline, and implementation plan.
Fractional leadership
Hands-on senior ownership without adding a permanent full-time executive.
Ongoing advisory
Regular operating review, decision support, accountability, and governance.
Cole provides hospitality operating, transaction-preparation, and coordination support. Legal, real-estate brokerage, lending, securities, tax, and other regulated services are performed by appropriately licensed professionals where required.
Step in where it matters