Certificate of Labor Studies

Labor Relations in the Public Sector

Part of the Online Labor Studies Program which allows busy union activists to take college credit courses regardless of their location or work schedules, this 11-week course is designed to acquaint labor relations professionals, union members, and union stewards with a basic understanding of public sector labor relations.

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Private Sector Labor Law

Part of the Online Labor Studies Program this course surveys the major areas of the law as it applies to workers and unions in the private sector. Students will concentrate on major provisions of the NLRB, examining how NLRB and Federal Courts have interpreted the national labor laws.

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Dates for sessions will be posted as soon as they are available.

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Labor and Film

Part of the Online Labor Studies Program this course examines the history of unions in the US through the use of film. Students will explore the various social issues raised by each film. Each week we will watch a film, analyze it, and discuss our reactions.

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Dates for sessions will be posted as soon as they are available.

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Labor History

Labor History can be understood from the perspectives of both union history and the social, cultural, and political life of workers. Here we explore not only union organizing, collective bargaining, and labor legislation, but also what workers thought, how they work and lived, and their impact on the larger society.

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Dates for sessions will be posted as soon as they are available.

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Contract Administration

The contract lies at the center of day-to-day union practice. How can union leaders and rank and file members ensure that the contract is honored and not circumvented? Students in this online for-credit course will learn how to resolve problems that are contract-based by effectively utilizing grievance procedures.

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Dates for sessions will be posted as soon as they are available.

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Introduction to Collective Bargaining

Part of the Online Labor Studies Program, this course examines the principles of contract bargaining including bargaining environments and standards used in negotiations. Students will learn to prepare bargaining demands, cost economic items, draft non-economic language, negotiate economic and non-economic issues, and resolve a bargaining impasse.

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Advanced Collective Bargaining

This online for-credit course helps union activists build practical skills needed in collective bargaining today through role-plays and mock bargaining with students across the country. Organizations benefit from union members learning bargaining skills in a safe environment instead of at bargaining tables which can impact the entire workplace.

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Building Effective Unions: Motivating and Organizing Union

 This course, part of the Online Labor Studies Program, examines the history of workers' efforts to form unions. Discussions focus on how unions can "unionize" their members so they become participants in the mobilization of other workers to support the values of the labor movement.

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Dates for sessions will be posted as soon as they are available.

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The U.S. Worker and Global Industrial Relations

This class is designed to provide union members, officers, and staff with working knowledge of the operations and impact of corporate globalization both in specific local situations (ie, the threatened relocation of a plant), global capital flows, and the shaping of the increasingly unequal US economy.

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Dates for sessions will be posted as soon as they are available.

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Leadership in Unions

Part of the Online Labor Studies Program this for-credit class prepares participants for assuming responsibilities in their organization by developing the skills and abilities required of union leaders. Each participant will prepare a plan for improving how their local union functions.

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Dates for sessions will be posted as soon as they are available.

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Diversity, Equity and Inclusion for Unions

This course considers implications of expanded membership diversity and expectations of just treatment for organizational fairness and inclusion – i.e. diversity, equity and inclusion in unions. Emphasis will be placed on developing knowledge, awareness and skills and facilitate communication around difficult issues of race and other dimensions of difference.

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Dates for sessions will be posted as soon as they are available.

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Effective Communications At Work

This course, part of the Online Labor Studies Program, focuses on how to develop skills to improve the effectiveness of your communication relationships and enhance the quality of your life. The class will be highly participatory and include the most crucial readings on effective communications for working people.

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Managing Conflict

This program allows busy union activists to take college credit courses regardless of location or work schedules. An introduction to dispute resolution theory and practice, this course examines the nature and sources of conflict and the role of negotiations, mediation, arbitration and fact-finding in the resolution of disputes.

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Dates for sessions will be posted as soon as they are available.

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Online Communications and Zoom Presentation Skills

The objective of this course is to teach communication skills needed at all levels of leadership in the local union. Key topics include: Online communications as a union building strategy; developing online classes using Canvas/presentations using Zoom or PowerPoint; public speaking; effective Zoom or Digital meetings; developing media strategies.

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Dates for sessions will be posted as soon as they are available.

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