LIR 858
COLLECTIVE BARGAINING
Spring, 2006
Richard N. Block
428 S. Kedzie Hall
517-353-3896
block@msu.edu
Office Hours: By Appointment
Course Goals:
1.
To provide an overview of the role of collective bargaining in employment
relations and in society.
2.
To provide an understanding of the legal, economic, organizational, political, and
societal constraints in which collective bargaining in the United States operates,
and the changes in those constraints.
3.
To develop an understanding of the process of collective bargaining in the United
States, with a special focus on the variety within the collective bargaining system.
4.
To provide an understanding of the most important issues with which the parties
to collective bargaining in the United States must deal.
5.
To understand the effects of collective bargaining on various outcomes (firm
performance, wages).
6.
To provide students with a simulation experience negotiating a collective
bargaining agreement.
Course Textbooks:
Harry Katz and Thomas Kochan, An Introduction to Collective Bargaining and Industrial
Relations, Second Edition, New York: McGraw-Hill, 2000 (hereinafter cited as Katz and
Kochan)
Richard N. Block, John Beck, and Daniel H. Kruger, Labor Law, Industrial Relations,
and Employee Choice Kalamazoo, MI: W.E. Upjohn Institute for Employment Research,
1996 (hereinafter cited as Block, Beck, and Kruger).
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Richard N. Block, Ed., Bargaining for Competitiveness: Law, Research, and Case
Studies, Kalamazoo, MI: W.E. Upjohn Institute for Employment Research, 2003
(hereinafter cited as Block).
LIR 858 Coursepack, Spring, 2006, available at Student Bookstore, 417 E. Grand River
Avenue, East Lansing
Course Work/Grading:
There will be no exams in the course. The assignments in the class represent a mixture
of individual papers, group projects, and group and individual presentations. The
required work assignments and their weights are listed below. Additional information
about the assignments is provided at the end of this syllabus. This includes specific
hints on standards for grading. Final grades are in increments of 4.0, 3.5, 3.0, etc., but
assignment grades contain finer gradations.
10% Required Paper: Perspectives on collective bargaining (3 pages)
30% Short paper option (3 pages on any two of seven possible topics due on specified
dates -- each paper is 15% of the final grade)
15% In-class group debate (group grade for one of 7 possible debate topics)
15% Required Paper: Contract comparison (3 pages)
20% Forms and settlement report for bargaining exercise (group grades)
10% Required Paper: Reflections on collective bargaining (5 pages)
There will be no deferred grades or incompletes given for the course. If you require
accommodation for religious, disability, or other purposes, please make an appointment
to discuss the matter with me.
COURSE TOPICS1
January 9
(Week 1)
Course Overview and Introduction
Class experiences with collective bargaining and industrial relations.
Bruce Kaufman, 1993. “The Origins of Industrial Relations” and “The Schism in
Industrial Relations” (LIR 858 Coursepack).
1Dates
for topics are subject to change. Dates for debates and the mock bargaining
and the due dates for assignments are not subject to change.
2
January 16 (Week 2)
Class will not meet due to Martin Luther King Day.
January 23 (Week 3)
Theoretical Framework and Historical Context
Katz and Kochan, Ch. 1, "A Framework for Analyzing Bargaining and Industrial
Relations"
Richard Hyman. 1975. "What is Industrial Relations?" (LIR 858 Coursepack)
Katz and Kochan, Chapter 2, "The Historical Evolution of the U.S. Industrial Relations
System"
David Brody, 1993 “The Uses of Power I: Industrial Battleground,” in Workers in
Industrial America: Essays on the Twentieth Century Struggle in (LIR 858 Coursepack)
John R. Commons, American Shoemaker, 1648-1895” (LIR 858 Coursepack)
January 30 (Week 4)
The Contexts of Bargaining: Legal, Social, Economic, Political
Block, Beck, and Kruger, Ch. 1, "Introduction and Overview"
Block, Ch. 2, Richard N. Block, “Competitiveness and Employment Protection and
Creation”
Katz and Kochan, Ch. 4, "The Role of the Environment"
Richard N. Block, et al, 2004, “The Economic Dimension of the Employment
Relationship (LIR 858 Coursepack)
February 6 (Week 5)
The Actors in Collective Bargaining
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Katz and Kochan, Ch. 5, "Management Strategies and Structures for Collective
Bargaining"
Katz and Kochan, Ch. 6, Union Strategies and Structures for Representing Workers”
February 13 (Week 6)
The Organizing Process; The Negotiation Process
Katz and Kochan, Chap. 7, "Union Organizing and Bargaining Structures"
Block, Beck, and Kruger, Ch. 2 "Labor and Industrial Relations Law and Practice in the
United States" and Ch. 4, “Impairment of Workers’ Rights of Choice”
John McClendon, et al, 1998, “The Individual Decision to Unionize” (LIR 858
Coursepack)
Katz and Kochan, Ch 8, "The Negotiation Process and Strikes"
Charles Craypo, “The Sources of Union Bargaining Power,” (LIR 858 Coursepack)
Wade Rathke, “Majority Unionism: Strategies for Organizing the 21st Century Labor
Movement” (LIR 858 Coursepack)
Richard Walton, Joel Cutcher-Gershenfeld, and Robert McKersie, “A Theory of
Strategic Negotiations” (LIR 858 Coursepack)
February 20 (Week 7)
The Outcomes of Collective Bargaining: The Collective Bargaining Agreement
Katz and Kochan, Ch. 10, “Contract Terms and Employment”
Charles Loughran, 1993, “Costing Contract Demands, Offers, and Settlements” (LIR
858 Coursepack)
February 27 (Week 8)
Contract Administration: Grievance Procedures and Arbitration
Ch. 11, Katz and Kochan, "Administering the Employment Relationship"
Richard B. Peterson and David Lewin, “Research on Unionized Grievance Procedures:
Management Issues and Recommendations” (LIR 858 Coursepack)
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March 6
Spring Break
March 13 (Week 9)
Models of Collective Bargaining Relationships: Conflict and Cooperation
Block, Beck, and Kruger, Chapter 3, “Labor-Management Cooperation in the United
States”
Richard N. Block, “Basic Aluminum;” Richard N. Block and Peter Berg, “Auto
Assembly:” Michael L. Moore and Richard N. Block, “Automobile Parts,” Michael J.
Polzin and Peter Berg, “Health Care,” in Block.
Hoyt Wheeler, “A Survey of American Union Strategies” (LIR 858 Coursepack)
March 20 (Week 10)
Other Systems of Industrial Relations: The United States, Canada, Europe, Asia
Katz and Kochan, Chap. 13, “Collective Bargaining in the Public Sector”
Kate Bronfrenbrenner and Tom Juravich, 1994, “The Impact of Employer Opposition on
Union Certification Win Rates” (LIR 858 Coursepack)
Richard Freeman, 1996, “Through Public Sector Eyes: Employee Attitudes Toward
Public Sector Labor Relations in the United States” (LIR 858 Coursepack)
Katz and Kochan, Chap 14, “International and Comparative Industrial Relations”
Harry C. Katz, 1993, “The Decentralization of Collective Bargaining: A Literature Review
and Comparative Analysis” (LIR 858 Coursepack)
March 27
Perspectives and Current Issues in Collective Bargaining and Industrial Relations
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Thomas A. Kochan, 2001, “Can the U.S. Industrial Relations System be Transformed?”
(LIR 858 Coursepack)
Chris Benner and Amy Dean, “Labor in the New Economy: Lesson from Labor
Organizing in Silicon Valley” (LIR 858 Coursepack)
Michael Yates, 1998, “Collective Bargaining” (LIR 858 Coursepack)
April 3 (Week 12)
No class, prepare for collective bargaining
April 10 (Week 13)
Mock Negotiations
April 17 (Week 14)
Mock Negotiations
April 24 (Week 15)
Class Reports on Mock Negotiations
May 1 (Finals Week)
Final Paper Due
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