Labor Relations: Perspectives from Management and Labor

Catalog description

This course provides students with a comprehensive examination of the labor, employment, and industrial relations framework as it exists today in the American economy. We focus on the exercise of both labor and management’s powerand responsibilities, and the objective processes under which both sides operate. We begin with the historical development of labor relations in the United States, from the period preceding collective bargaining through the emergence of theories of management and corresponding stages of labor relations practices in the 20th century. The latter includes the rise of contract unions, industrial relations in an era of unionization and collective bargaining, the crisis resulting from increased competition and globalization, and the subsequent transformation of American labor-management relations. We then consider the future of these relations, exploring the potential for adversarial or cooperative relationships and alternative models of worker representation. Last, we focus on legislative and legal relationships in collective bargaining. Conflict resolution is addressed through lecture and culminates in an experiential learning project on grievance andarbitration procedures.