Labor Relations Specialist Career Assessment
Contracts, grievances, and the rules between workers and management
Welcome
Labor relations specialists work on the formal agreements between an employer and its workers. They help write union contracts, handle complaints under those contracts, and keep both sides following the rules.
It is a small, senior, high-paying corner of human resources. You will explore what the work is really like and whether it fits you.
This takes about 15 minutes.
What is a Labor Relations Specialist?
A union is a group of workers who bargain together over pay and working conditions. The written agreement they reach with the employer is a contract. A complaint that the contract was broken is called a grievance. A labor relations specialist helps negotiate the contract, investigates grievances, and advises managers so the employer does not break labor law. Some work for the employer. Some work for the union.
The Reality: Be honest with yourself about this one. It is not an entry-level job, and North Dakota has only about 80 of them statewide with roughly 10 openings a year. Nearly everyone gets here after years in human resources, as a union officer or steward, or with a law degree. The work is also adversarial by design: you sit across a table from people who disagree with you, sometimes for days, and you take notes while someone is angry. What people actually do first is general HR work, employee relations, or union leadership on the shop floor.
Your Responsibilities:
- Help negotiate union contracts
- Investigate grievances and write up findings
- Advise managers on what the contract allows
- Sit in on discipline meetings and take careful notes
- Prepare cases for arbitration hearings
- Read and apply federal and state labor law
- Track contract deadlines and required notices
- Train supervisors on how to follow the contract
You keep two sides that do not trust each other working under the same written rules.
A Day in the Life
7:30 AM — Read overnight email. A grievance was filed about weekend overtime.
8:30 AM — Pull the contract and the schedule records. Check who was actually offered the hours.
10:00 AM — Interview the supervisor. Write down exactly what was said.
11:30 AM — Interview the employee and the union steward. Write that down too.
12:30 PM — Lunch at your desk while you outline the answer.
1:00 PM — Bargaining session on next year's contract. Three hours of back and forth.
4:00 PM — Brief your director on where the talks stand.
5:00 PM — File your notes carefully. Everything here can end up in a hearing.
Office and meeting-room work. Long negotiation days come in stretches.
Training in North Dakota
Most jobs ask for a bachelor's degree plus real experience with unions or human resources. There is no license. Employers want someone who has already sat through grievances or negotiations. That experience comes from general HR work, from being a union steward, or from a law background. A labor-management relations course is a good early signal that you are serious.
Training Pathways:
- Come up through human resources (5 or more years): Work as an HR generalist in a place with a union. Volunteer for grievance and discipline work. This is the most common route.
- Come up through the union (5 or more years): Serve as a steward or officer. You learn contracts and grievances from the inside, and unions hire staff representatives who do this work.
- Bachelor's degree first (4 years): Human resource management or business with a labor relations course, then HR work. Some people add a law degree later, which is common in this field but not required.
Where to Train in North Dakota:
- North Dakota State University (Fargo) — Management major, B.S., minimum 120 credits. The Human Resources Management track requires Labor-Management Relations (MGMT 454), the course that matches this career most directly — catalog.ndsu.edu
- University of North Dakota (Grand Forks) — Human Resource Management, B.B.A., 120 credits, on campus or online, following SHRM curriculum guidelines and standards. UND also offers a 9-credit Human Resource Management Certificate — und.edu
- Valley City State University (Valley City) — Business Administration, Human Resource & Management Concentration, 120 credits, including Organizational Behavior and Communication and Interviewing, which are both useful for investigations — catalog.vcsu.edu
- Minot State University (Minot) — Management, B.S., 120 credits, on campus or online, with a Human Resources Management concentration — minotstateu.edu
- Bismarck State College (Bismarck) — Management, AAS, 60 to 61 credits, with Human Resource Management required. A two-year start that transfers — catalog.bismarckstate.edu
Before You Start: High school diploma or GED. You need strong reading, because contracts and labor law are dense. You need to write clearly and factually. No advanced math.
Tip: Start with financial aid, scholarships, and any help an employer offers — that is where the money starts. After that, ask a career counselor or Job Service North Dakota whether WIOA or other programs can help with what is left over, like training, tools, work boots, or exam fees. What can be paid for depends on the program and on your own situation, so ask before you sign up rather than after. Registered apprenticeships let you earn a paycheck while you learn — see jobsnd.com/job-seeker/apprenticeships for ND programs.
Certification & Licensing
No license is required. General human resources credentials are what employers recognize. There is no single labor relations certificate that employers expect. What they look for is experience plus one of the general HR credentials from HRCI or SHRM. The senior ones fit this job best, because this is a senior job.
Credentials You Might Get:
- SPHR (HRCI) — Senior Professional in Human Resources. The best match for this level. You need 7 years of professional-level HR experience with no degree, or 5 years plus a bachelor's, or 4 years plus a master's (hrci.org)
- SHRM-SCP (SHRM) — Senior Certified Professional. At least 3 years of strategic-level HR work, or holding the SHRM-CP for at least 3 years while moving into a strategic role. No degree required. SHRM counts at least 1,000 hours per calendar year, and part-time work qualifies if it meets that standard (shrm.org)
- PHR (HRCI) — a good mid-career step. 4 years of professional-level HR experience with no degree, or 2 years plus a bachelor's, or 1 year plus a master's (hrci.org)
- SHRM-CP (SHRM) — no degree and no prior HR experience required, and candidates do not have to hold an HR title. A reasonable place to start (shrm.org)
- aPHR (HRCI) — the beginner credential. HRCI states no HR experience and no degree are required. It will not get you a labor relations job, but it starts the HR record you need (hrci.org)
The Exams: The SPHR exam is 2 hours and 30 minutes plus 30 minutes of setup, with 115 scored questions and 25 test questions that do not count. The PHR exam is 2 hours with 90 scored questions plus 25 test questions. Both are given at Pearson VUE centers or online (hrci.org).
Cost: HRCI lists the SPHR at a $495 exam fee plus a $100 application fee, and the PHR at $395 plus $100. Once HRCI approves your application the fee is not refundable.
Keeping It Current: HRCI credentials last three years and are kept with recertification credits or by retaking the exam. The PHR needs 60 credits over three years (hrci.org).
Salary & Job Outlook
North Dakota Labor Relations Specialist Pay (May 2025):
- Starting out (bottom 10–25%): $31.43–$38.22/hour ($65,370–$79,500/year)
- Middle (median — half earn more, half earn less): $48.66/hour ($101,220/year)
- Experienced (top 25–10%): $55.55–$59.91/hour ($115,540–$124,610/year)
What that means: The middle North Dakota labor relations specialist earns about $48.66 an hour, or about $101,220 a year. That is higher than the national middle of $45.87, which is rare for North Dakota. But read it carefully. The state has only about 80 people in this title, so the numbers rest on a small sample. The high floor of $31.43 an hour is not a beginner wage. It reflects that nobody enters this job new. Most of these positions in North Dakota are with government, large health systems, or unions, and public pay tends to be flatter, which is why the North Dakota top tenth of $59.91 sits well below the national top tenth of $75.09.
Jobs in North Dakota: About 80 people do this work in ND today. By 2034, that should be about 80 (about 1% growth). Expect about 10 job openings every year in ND from growth and people retiring or changing jobs. Across the U.S., the change is about 0% change — little or no change.
Outlook: Weak and very small. North Dakota expects about 1% growth over ten years and roughly 10 openings a year, and the country is projected to have little or no change. Openings come almost entirely from people retiring. Do not plan a career around this title alone. Plan on human resources, and treat labor relations as a specialty you may grow into.
Who Hires in ND: North Dakota state and local government, school districts, large hospitals and health systems, universities, railroads, utilities, large manufacturers, and labor unions themselves.
Work Setting: An office and a lot of meeting rooms. Indoors. Negotiation sessions and hearings can run long and can be tense. Some travel within the state to worksites and hearings.
Physical Demands: Low. Sitting, reading, and talking for long stretches. The strain is mental more than physical. Long meeting days are tiring in a different way than desk days.
Sources: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, North Dakota, May 2025 (SOC 13-1075); North Dakota and U.S. long-term employment projections 2024–2034, via O*NET OnLine. Numbers are rounded.
Where This Leads
Path 1: HR Generalist — Where most people start. Learn the basics.
Path 2: Employee Relations Specialist — Handle complaints and investigations.
Path 3: Union Steward or Officer — The other common route in, from the worker side.
Path 4: Labor Relations Specialist — Contracts, grievances, and bargaining.
Path 5: Labor Relations Manager — Lead negotiations for the employer or union.
Path 6: HR Director — Set people policy across the organization.
The Real Talk
What's Great:
- High pay for North Dakota
- Your work shapes real working conditions
- Reading and reasoning, not heavy lifting
- Every case is different
- Skills carry into law or management
- Respected, senior role
What's Hard:
- Only about 10 ND openings a year
- Almost no growth expected
- Not an entry-level job at all
- Conflict is the whole job
- Long, tense negotiation days
- Dense contracts and labor law to read
Be Honest: Can you stay calm and factual when people are angry at you, for hours? Are you willing to spend five or more years in human resources or union work first? Can you accept that only about 10 of these jobs open in North Dakota in a year?