Greg Freehling

Background

About Greg Freehling

A major concern of today’s labor relation leaders is the void in labor relation expertise and skill sets necessary to successfully operate in today’s unionized companies. I experienced this firsthand during my 30-year career, most recently as the Director of Labor Relations for Arconic. To fill this void, I launched Brison Taylor LLC, a labor relations consulting firm after I retired. Its mission is two-fold: • Help organization leaders challenge the status quo through redesign efforts and union negotiations to optimize labor costs. • Develop and enhance the skill set of practitioners, business leaders, and union officials to successfully operate in a unionized environment through customized labor relations training programs. In a career spanning plant and corporate responsibilities, I developed subject matter expertise in leading cost improvement initiatives, union contract negotiations, contract administration, as well as grievance and arbitration advocacy. As Director of Labor Relations for Arconic, I was accountable for the labor relations function of the corporation, leading and managing the relationships and efforts required to create successful labor outcomes. In addition to redesign efforts and multiple stand-alone union negotiations, my team and I negotiated the most recent master contract between Arconic and the United Steelworkers. During my career I relished projects that challenged the status quo to improve operations almost as much as opportunities to expand the labor relations skill set of practitioners and business leaders. Dovetailing off this experience, I am an Adjunct Professor at Michigan State University’s School of Human Resources and Labor Relations. I have designed and taught labor relations programs for the labor relations community as well as in-house customized programs for client corporations.