ASSIGNMENTS
LIR 858
Collective Bargaining
Spring, 2011
Peter B. Berg
Dale Belman
Richard N. Block
William N. Cooke
Sign Up Sheet for In-Class Debate Topics, LIR 858, Spring, 2011
NAME: ______
In the spaces provided, place a "1" next to your first choice as a debate topic, a "2" next to your second choice, a "3" next to your third choice, and a "4" next to your fourth choice. For any topic that fewer than four people have listed as a first choice, second, third, or fourth choices will be used to form teams. The construction of teams will be such that no team is composed entirely of first semester students. The designation of positions (pro and con) for each topic will made on a random basis.
____ 2/17: Debate Topic 1: During the last fifty years, union membership as a percentage of the U.S. labor force has declined from approximately 34% to approximately 12%. Is this decline a matter that public policy should address or should this be viewed as simply a result of worker choice against collective bargaining representation, and therefore, not a matter for public concern?"
____3/3 Debate Topic 2: Collective bargaining with the UAW was the major reason for the financial problems of General Motors, Ford, and Chrysler in the late 2000’s.
____3/24 Debate Topic 3: Should the State of Michigan continue to use compulsory arbitration to resolve labor disputes between local and county public employers and the labor organization representing uniformed public safety employees when the parties are unable to negotiate a collective bargaining agreement?
____3/31: Debate Topic 4: Should the United States adopt a “Social Partnership” model of collective bargaining such as is prevalent in Europe.
The debate is 15% of your grade. It will be a group grade.
This form must be returned to Rich Block either in his mailbox or to by January 27, 2011 at 3:00 PM.
THREE-PAGE OPTIONAL PAPER TOPICS
Short Paper Option 1, due February 24, 2011 if selected: Discuss the role that the UAW played in 2008 and 2009 in securing government loans for General Motors and Chrysler and the role the UAW played in the subsequent bankruptcy proceedings.
Short Paper Option 2, due March 3, 2011, if selected: The National Football League (NFL) and the National Football League Players Association (NFLPA) are currently involved in a labor dispute that may result in cancellation of the 2011 season. Analyze the issues in the NFL-NFLPA labor dispute.
Short Paper Option 3, due March 17, 2011 if selected: A controversial aspect of the 2007 agreement between the UAW and the domestic auto makers was the establishment of two-tier wage systems. Under that system, some employees receive $28 per hour while other employees receive $14 per hour. Discuss the rationale for establishing such systems and the likelihood of these systems remaining over the long run.
Short Paper Option 4, due March 24, 2011, if selected: Project Labor Agreements (PLAs) are a unique aspect of construction industry labor relations What are project labor agreements? Discuss the advantages and disadvantages PLAs.
Short Paper Option5 due March 31, 2010, if selected: Analyze the 2007-08 strike by the Writer’s Guild against the film and television industry. What were the issues in the strike and how was the strike resolved?
Short Paper Option 6, due April 7, 2011 if selected: The International Labor Organization (ILO) is one of the most influential organizations in the world. Yet, it has almost no visibility in the United States. Discuss the basic functions of the ILO with respect to collective bargaining and the reasons why the ILO is so little known in the United States.
Short Paper Option 7, due April 14, 2011 if selected: Most estimates of unionization indicate that the unionization rate in China is high relative to other industrialized countries. What are the reasons for this high unionization rate?
NOTE: Each of the papers is 15% of your grade.
LIR 858, COLLECTIVE BARGAINING
Bibliographic Information for Debates and Papers -- Spring, 2011
The bibliography at the end of each chapter in your texts is an excellent source of citations. These should be viewed as a start.
Listed below are sources of information and data on collective bargaining and industrial relations in the United States and elsewhere. You may wish to use these for your written assignments and for your debate topics. Although this list is thorough, it is not necessarily exhaustive. If you find sources not listed here that you find useful, please inform me and I will add it to this list for future classes. Many of these are available on-line.
PERIODICALS AND JOURNALS
Current Issues in Industrial Relations/Collective Bargaining, Aimed at the General Public or a General Business Audience (all available on line in some form)
Business Week
Chicago Tribune
Detroit Free Press
Detroit News
The Economist
Fortune
findlaw.com at http://news.lp.findlaw.com/legalnews/business/labor/
Los Angeles Times
The New York Times
The Wall Street Journal (available online through paid subscription)
Comment on Current Industrial Relations Issues, Aimed at a Mixed Community of General Business Practitioners, Industrial Relations Practitioners, and Academics
BNA.com, “Labor and Employment Law Library”
California Management Review
Harvard Business Review
Monthly Labor Review
Research on Industrial Relations/Collective Bargaining, Aimed Primarily at the Academic Community
British Journal of Industrial Relations (primarily Europe)
Industrial and Labor Relations Review
Industrial Relations
Labor and Employment Relations Association publications (lera.uiuc.edu)
Journal of Labor Research
Proceedings of the Winter Meeting of the Labor and Employment Relations Association
SOURCES OF DATA IN LABOR AND INDUSTRIAL RELATIONS
U.S. Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics, www.bls.gov
U.S. Department of Commerce, Census Bureau, www.boc.gov
U.S. Federal Government agencies websites can be accessed through the SLIR website, www.lir.msu.edu.
ORGANIZATIONS WITH AN INTEREST IN COLLECTIVE BARGAINING (check websites)
American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations (AFL-CIO)
Change to Win
National Association of Manufacturers
Chamber of Commerce
HR Policy Association
BOOKS (In Addition to the Texts)
Publishers of Books on Collective Bargaining/Industrial Relations
ILR Press/Cornell Press, Ithaca, New York
W.E. Upjohn Institute for Employment Research, Kalamazoo, Michigan
Theoretical/Conceptual Issues
Freeman, Richard and James Medoff, What Do Unions Do? New York, Basic Books, 1964.
Marshall, Ray, Unheard Voices: Labor and Economic Policy in the Competitive World, New York, Basic Books, Inc. 1987.
Chelius, James and James Dworkin, eds. Reflections on the Transformation of Industrial Relations, Metuchen, N.J., IMLR Press/Rutgers University and the Scarecrow Press, Inc., 1990.
Katz, Harry C., ed. The Future of Industrial Relations, Ithaca, N.Y., Institute of Collective Bargaining, New York State School of Industrial and Labor Relations, Cornell University, 1991.
Economic and Legal Context
S. Loughran. "Taking the Law into Account" in Negotiating A Labor
Contract: A Management Handbook. Washington, DC: Bureau of National Affairs, 1984.
Friedman, S., R.W. Hurd, R.A. Oswald, and R.L. Seeber, Restoring the Promise of American Labor Law, Ithaca, New York, ILR Press, 1994.
Contract Administration: Grievances and Arbitration
Dispute Resolution Journal (formerly Arbitration Journal), published by the American Arbitration Association.
Elkouri and Elkouri: How Arbitration Works, Alan Miles Ruben, ed., Washington DC: BNA Books, 2005.
Contact Administration: Joint Committees
Gomberg, William. "Special Study Committees," in Frontiers of
Collective Bargaining, in John Dunlop and Neil Chamberlain, eds. New York: Harper and Row, 1967.
Kochan, Thomas, Lee Dyer, and David Lipsky. The Effectiveness of
Union-Management Safety and Health Committees, Kalamazoo, MI: The W.E. Upjohn Institute for Employment Research, 1977. (Selected portions)
Cohen-Rosenthal, Edward and Cynthia E. Burton. "Chapter 8:
Building Linking Structures: Labor-Management Committees" in Mutual Gains: A Guide to Union-Management Cooperation. New York: Praeger, 1987.
Collective Bargaining and New Technology
Haddad, Carol J. "Technological Change and Reindustrialization:
Implications for Organized Labor" in D. Kennedy, Ed., Labor and Reindustrialization: Workers and Corporate Change. University Park: Pennsylvania State University, 1984.
Deutsch, Steven. "New Technology, Union Strategies and Worker
Participation," in Economic and Industrial Democracy, Vol. 7, 1986.
Shifting Patterns of Collective Bargaining
Mitchell, Dan. "Shifting Norms in Wage Setting," Brookings Papers on
Economic Activity Two, 1985.
Freeman, Richard. "In Search of Union Wage Concessions in Standard
Data Sets" in Industrial Relations, Vol. 25, No. 4, Spring 1986.
Walton, Richard E., J. Cutcher-Gershenfeld, and R.B. McKersie, Strategic Negotiations: A Theory of Change in Labor-Management Relations, Boston, Harvard Business School Press, 1995.
The Relationship Between Collective Bargaining and Other Forms of Organizational Governance
Harry Katz, editor, "Special Report: Work Restructuring" in ILR
Report, Vol. XXVI, No. 1 (Fall, 1988).
Kochan, Thomas, Joel Cutcher-Gershenfeld and John Paul MacDuffie.
"Employee Participation, Work Redesign, and New Technology: Implications for Public Policy in the 1990's," submitted to the U.S. Department of Labor Commission on Workforce Quality and Labor Market Efficiency. Washington, D.C.: U.S. Department of Labor, 1989.
Comparative Collective Bargaining
Michael J. Morley, Patrick Gunnigle, and David G. Collings, eds., Global Industrial Relations, London and New York: Routledge, 2006.
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