Despite declines in private-sector union membership in the United States, labor relations remains an essential topic within the field of human resource management. However, most undergraduate students have little experience with labor unions, making it difficult to enhance learning by applying labor relations concepts to their prior experiences.…

Many often identified the Catholic Church with the cause of labor and worker's rights in the United States. However that was not the common situation encountered by laborers throughout most of the nineteenth century. The proclamation of the social encyclicals: Pope Leo XIII's Rerum Novarum (1891) and Pope Pius XI's Quadragesimo Anno (1931)…

Sweden has experienced increasing educational inequity levels within its highly decentralized school system. With a reduced capacity to bargain collectively, the two Swedish teacher trade unions, the Swedish Teachers' Union (Lärarförbundet) and the National Union of Teachers in Sweden (Lärarnas Riksförbund), have sought to extend their role in…

The crisis in the American economy has provided an opportunity to change traditional bargaining methods and to get the unions involved in taking a serious look at their stake in a healthy economy. (JOW)

Several significant court decisions involving labor cases are discussed including a series of decisions concerning constitutional protections afforded aliens; the First Amendment and national labor relations laws; and the bifurcated backpay rule. (BM)

Discusses labor relations at Yale University, explaining that for 35 years, they have been negative, with 4,000 workers recently walking off the job. (EV)

Examines "Chicago Teachers Union v. Hudson," a United States Supreme Court decision guaranteeing non-union government workers specific protections of procedural due process that certain educational and teacher unions had failed to recognize. Decries the "Hudson" decision for separating labor law from laws governing the rest of…

Outlines a discussion between Albert Shanker, president of the American Federation of Teachers, and Wes Apker, executive director of the Association of California School Administrators, that centered on the status of collective bargaining in the schools. (MD)

The political trend toward holding down the labor costs associated with public education continues unabated. Until elected officials are prepared to fund the high cost of quality education--including improving instructional wages and benefits in a significant way--dissatisfaction and frustration will continue to plague the bargaining process for…

Rochester Teachers Association President Adam Urbanski is kingpin of a new breed of union leaders who want to be partners, not adversaries, in the school improvement crusade. Despite his good intentions, many people in his hometown are disgruntled with him. The article describes his work over the past five years. (SM)

Details the history and activities in New Jersey of "El Comite de Apoyo a los Trabajadores Agricolos" (CATA) or Farmworkers' Support Committee. The Committee was founded in 1979 to help Puerto Rican migrant workers who suffer from social and political isolation and are denied basic rights. Successes, goals, and problems are noted. (PS)

Presents comments spoken at a human rights conference by Han Dongfang, a Chinese activist who was jailed after an attempt to organize China's first independent union from a tent in Tiananmen Square during the democracy movement. Today, he is barred from the mainland but works from Hong Kong through Radio Free Asia. Comments focus on foreign…

In this activity, secondary history students study Canadian economic history during the 1914-1919 period and analyze information to resolve the question "What were the motives of the leaders of the Winnipeg general strike?" (RM)

Three aspects of the collective bargaining process are detrimental to school district governance: (1) teachers' associations gain decision-making authority over management prerogatives; (2) union demands illegally infringe on statutory duties of school districts; and (3) the conflict between laypersons and professionals for control of the schools…

Following a 1980 strike by San Jose, California, public school teachers, the San Jose school board was embarrassed by a $6.2 million budget surplus into granting a teacher contract beyond its fiscal capacity. The school board's subsequent decision to declare bankruptcy established a controversial precedent for similar actions elsewhere. (JBM)