ILRLR 3035

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  • Schedule of Classes - September 10, 2024 10:17AM EDT
  • Course Catalog - September 10, 2024 9:19AM EDT
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ILRLR 3035
Special Topics in Labor Relations

Course information provided by the Courses of Study 2023-2024.

Undergraduate seminar whose topic changes depending on semester and instructor.

When Offered Fall or Spring.

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Syllabi: none

  •   Regular Academic Session.  Combined with: ILRLR 6080

  • 3 Credits GradeNoAud

  • Topic: From the Assembly Line to Algorithms

  • 17852 ILRLR 3035   LEC 003

  •  
    • TR Ives Hall 108
    • Jan 22 - May 7, 2024

    • Wolf, A

  • This course is a survey of theories of the labor process exploring how employers organize work, how workers respond to these efforts, and how this shapes industrial labor relations. Since the dawn of the industrial revolution scholars from Marx to Taylor considered how the design of the labor process impacted not only profit but workers’ subjective experience of their work and their resistance. In the 1970s, led by Burawoy and Braverman, there was renewed interest in the labor process to explore the organization of work both before and during the subsequent decline in the traditional New Deal industrial labor relations system. Coalescing around the notions of coercion and consent to explain employers’ construction of the labor process these theories explored how the reality of the workplace was shaped by the broader political economy. The last two decades have again seen significant changes and upheaval in the nature of work—gigification, digital surveillance, and the disruptive specter of generative AI—raising interest yet again in the study of the labor process. In exploring the wide range of theories, perspectives, and implications of how work is organized this course seeks to interrogate the historical context of these contemporary debates and shed light on the potential impacts to workers and industrial relations.

Syllabi: none

  •   Seven Week - First. 

  • 1.5 Credits GradeNoAud

  • Topic: Organizing Unions and Why We Do It

  • 17850 ILRLR 3035   LEC 001

  •  
    • F Ives Hall 109
    • Jan 22 - Mar 12, 2024

    • Brisack, J

  • Unions are cool again. From viral election victories, to memes poking fun at union-busting, to coveted bomber jackets, unions are surging in popularity and popular culture. So, why are workers organizing? What does it look like to organize a union in your workplace? What makes companies so determined to bust a union that they will make decisions that hurt their own business in order to prevent workers from organizing? This class will explore and seek to answer those questions and more, examining topics ranging from the psychology of union organizing -- and union-busting! -- to the ways workers fight fear and alienation through joy, community, and solidarity, to the capacity (or lack thereof) that the labor movement has to support insurgent and grassroots organizing campaigns. We will read, analyze, and discuss materials including leaflets, news articles, union-busting slideshows, labor songs, social media posts, books, and more, discussing the trajectory of the historical and current labor movement and our own roles within it