Courses
All courses carry 4 credits unless otherwise specified.
597W Special Topics: Organizing
Introduction to the principles and practices of union organizing. Topics include theories of organizing, internal and external organizing, and a case analysis of current organizing campaigns.
605 Labor Research
The principles and techniques of labor advocacy research. Includes survey research, qualitative methods, and corporate research techniques.
615 Collective Bargaining
An overview of the theory and practice of collective bargaining. Includes analysis of different approaches to bargaining, the negotiation process, contract campaigns, and implementing a contract under the law.
696 Independent Study
Topic not covered by other course work. Consultation with faculty member required.
696DD Final Project Research and Writing Seminar
Students complete an original research project in a series of stages, including articulating methodologies, literature review, outlining, writing, feedback, and intensive peer review. The final product is a polished work ready for publication and conference presentations. Credit, 4-6.
697C Special Topics: U.S. Labor History
Examines development of capital-labor relations, U.S. unions, labor relations systems, and working class culture from the early 1800s to present.
697F Special Topics: Labor in the U.S. Economy
Introduction to labor economics. Addresses issues such as income inequality, poverty, unemployment and underemployment, declining real wages, bargaining power, and capital flight.
697P Special Topics: Labor in a Global Economy
Examines globalization from both a theoretical and strategic perspective. Focus on the core challenges that economic internationalization presents for labor, and the means by which the U.S. labor movement can rebuild itself into an effective international force.
697Q Labor and the Media
Examination of the evolving relationship between labor and the media and also how unions communicate with their own members in an effort to build power for themselves and the people they represent.
697T Labor, Race, Gender and Immigration
Explores historical examples and theories of an intersectional approach to labor solidarity; suggests that the struggle for economic justice is inseparable from the fight for racial and gender equity.
697X Health Policy & Inequality in the US
Explores how, far more than anything else, political inequality shapes the health profile of the nation, and the labor movement is our best hope for building a response to some alarming trends.
699 Master’s Thesis
Maximum credit, 6.
742 Labor and Employment Law
Introduction to federal law governing labor unions, the right to organize, and collective bargaining. Topics include historical examination of labor law in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, the operation of the National Labor Relations Board, and the National Labor Relations Act.
746 Comparative Labor Movements
Labor movements and systems in various countries. Combines individual country-studies with a cross-national topical approach.