Courses
Social Work & Labor Studies
- LSTU-L 100 Survey of Unions and Collective Bargaining (3 cr.) This course includes coverage of historical development, labor law basics, and contemporary issues. It also discusses a survey of labor unions in the United States; focusing on their organization and their representational, economic, and political activities.
- LSTU-L 101 American Labor History (3 cr.) This course explores the struggles of working people to achieve dignity and security from social, economic, and political perspectives. It also explores a survey of the origin and development of unions and the labor movement from colonial times to the present.
- LSTU-L 104 Labor History (3 cr.) This course serves as an orientation for the study of labor history. It explores both critical and historical methodologies based on primary and secondary sources, biases, and interpretations. Discussions focus on selective questions and events.
- LSTU-L 110 Introduction to Labor Studies: Labor and Society (3 cr.) This course introduces students to the interdisciplinary and advocacy approach of labor studies. Exploring labor's role in society, the class will look at how unions have changed the lives of working people and contributed to better social policies. Discussions will highlight the relationship of our work lives to our non-work lives and will look at U.S. labor relations in a comparative framework.
- LSTU-L 200 Survey of Employment Law (3 cr.) This course explores statutes and common-law actions protecting income, working conditions, and rights of workers. Topics include workers' compensation, unemployment compensation, fair labor standards, Social Security, retirement income protection, and privacy and other rights.
- LSTU-L 201 Labor Law (3 cr.) This course reviews a survey of the law governing labor-management relations. Topics include the legal framework of collective bargaining, problems in the administration and enforcement of agreements, and protection of individual employee rights.
- LSTU-L 203 Labor and the Political System (3 cr.) This course examines federal, state, and local governmental effects on workers, unions, and labor-management relations; political goals; influences on union choices of strategies and modes of political participation, past and present; relationships with community and other groups.
- LSTU-L 205 Contemporary Labor Problems (3 cr.) This course examines some of the major problems confronting society, workers, and the labor movement. Topics may include automation, unemployment, international trade, environmental problems, minority and women's rights, community relations, and changing government policies.
- LSTU-L 210 Workplace Discrimination and Fair Employment (3 cr.) This course examines policies and practices that contribute to workplace discrimination and those designed to eliminate it. It explores effects of job discrimination and occupational segregation. It analyzes Title VII, the Americans with Disabilities Act, and related topics in relation to broader strategies for addressing discrimination.
- LSTU-L 220 Grievance Representation (3 cr.) This course looks at union representation in the workplace. It evaluates uses of grievance procedures to address problems and administer the collective bargaining agreement. It also explores analyses of relevant labor law and the logic applied by arbitrators to grievance decisions. Students learn about the identification, research, presentation, and writing of grievance cases.
- LSTU-L 230 Labor and the Economy (3 cr.) This course analyses aspects of the political economy of labor and the role of organized labor within it. It emphases the effect on workers, unions, collective bargaining of unemployment, investment policy, changes in technology and corporate structure. It also explores patterns of union political and bargaining responses.
- LSTU-L 231 Globalization and Labor (3 cr.) This course explores the globalization of trade, production, and migration and the effects of these processes on American workers. Through reading, discussion, and problem formation, students will critically think about the ways global processes and policies impact American workers' daily lives, analyze existing historical and current justifications for offshore production and the dismantling of barriers to trade and investment, and explore alternatives to these policies.
- LSTU-L 240 Occupational Health and Safety (3 cr.) This course reviews elements and issues of occupational health and safety. It emphases the union's role in the implementation of workplace health and safety programs, worker and union rights, hazard recognition techniques, and negotiated and statutory remedies-in particular the OSHA Act of 1970.
- LSTU-L 260 Leadership and Representation (3 cr.) This course evaluates organizational leadership issues for union, community, and other advocate organizations. It analyzes leadership styles, membership recruitment, and leadership development. It examines the role of leaders in internal governance and external affairs, including committee building, delegation, negotiations, and coalition building.
- LSTU-L 290 Topics in Labor Studies (1-3 cr.) This is a variable-title course. L290 can be repeated for credit with different subjects. The transcript will show a different subtitle each time the course is taken. Some courses focus on contemporary or special areas of labor studies. Others are directed toward specific categories of employees and labor organizations. Inquire at Labor Studies offices.
- LSTU-L 314 Ethical Dilemmas in Work Place (3 cr.) This courses explores the ethical decision-making and behavior in a unionized workplace, based on the values and social justice mission of unions. Students will examine what constitutes ethical standards on issues such as affirmative action, transparency, membership involvement, and democratic procedures. This includes the philosophical and theoretical bases for ethics and discussions on the relationship between law and ethics in dealing with workplace conflict.
- LSTU-L 315 The Organization of Work (3 cr.) This course examines how work is organized and how jobs are evaluated, measured, and controlled. It explores social and technical elements of work through theories of scientific management, the human relations school of management, and contemporary labor process literature.
- LSTU-L 320 Grievance Arbitration (3 cr.) P: Recommended only after L220 or with permission of instructor. This course explores the legal and practical context of grievance arbitration, and its limitations and advantages in resolving workplace problems. Varieties of arbitration clauses and the status of awards are also explored. Students analyze research, prepare, and present cases in mock arbitration hearings.
- LSTU-L 330 Global Comparisons: Labor Relations-Examples from 3 Continents (3 cr.) This course uses a political economy framework to explore and compare countries' systems of labor relations, drawing from at least three continents. It analyzes the diverse approaches to the structure of twenty-first century labor law and social policy. It focuses on the role of organized labor in the global economy, patters of breakdown in the enforcement of labor and employment law, and union and nonunion political and bargaining responses.
- LSTU-L 331 Global Problems: Local Solutions (3 cr.) This course addresses local manifestations of global problems confronting society, workers, and the labor movement. Students will cooperatively analyze issues, propose potential solutions, and engage in activities or practices that address globally driven local issues. Students will identify governmental, non-governmental, and charitable organizations that aid in ameliorating local problems. As a final project, students will design collaborative solutions based on our contemporary global situation in which work is characterized by flexibility, insecurity, and geographic mobility.
- LSTU-L 350 Issues in Collective Bargaining (3 cr.) This course includes readings and discussions on selected problems. A research paper is usually required.
- LSTU-L 370 LABOR AND RELIGION (3 cr.) This course examines the relationship between religion and the labor movement as it has developed in the United States over the course of the 19th and 20th centuries. Students will analyze the approach taken by religious institutions concerning workers' issues and assess the tradition in which workers of faith connect to more secular concerns for social and economic justice.
- LSTU-L 380 Theories of the Labor Movement (3 cr.) This course examines various perspectives on the origin, development, and goals of organized labor. Theories include those that view the labor movement as a business union institution, an agent for social reform, a revolutionary force, a psychological reaction to industrialization, a moral force, and an unnecessary intrusion.
- LSTU-L 385 Class, Race, Gender, and Work (3 cr.) This course provides a historical overview of the impact and interplay of class, race, and gender on shaping U.S. labor markets, organizations, and policies. It examines union responses and strategies for addressing class, race, and gender issues.
- LSTU-L 390 Topics in Labor Studies (1-3 cr.) This is a variable-title course. L390 can be repeated for credit with different subjects. The transcript will show a different subtitle each time the course is taken. Some courses focus on contemporary or special areas of labor studies. Others are directed toward specific categories of employees and labor organizations. Inquire at Labor Studies offices.
- LSTU-L 490 Topics in Labor Studies (1-3 cr.) This is a variable-title course. L490 can be repeated for credit with different subjects. The transcript will show a different subtitle each time the course is taken. Some courses focus on contemporary or special areas of labor studies. Others are directed toward specific categories of employees and labor organizations. Inquire at Labor Studies offices.
- SWK-S 102 Understanding Diversity in a Pluralistic Society (3 cr.) Theories and models that enhance understanding of our diverse society. This course provides content about differences and similarities in the experiences, needs, and beliefs of selected minority groups and their relation to the majority group.
