Labor Studies | Contemporary Labor Problems
L205 | 21849 | Mello, William
The following is a web based course offered through the ONCOURSE
system.
3 cr hrs; Class Number 21849. While the President has declared the
economy is strong, all is not rosy for American workers or the labor
movement. Hundred of thousands of factory jobs – and now white-
collar jobs – are exported abroad every year. The gap between rich
and poor in the U.S. is wider than ever before. The labor movement
has declined to under 13% of the workforce, and employers forcefully
combat workers’ right to form a union through legal and illegal
means. The course will discuss and debate some of these major
contemporary economic and political problems confronting workers,
organized labor, and society as a whole. Topics we will discuss
include: globalization and the global justice movement; plant
closings; sweatshops; lean production; evolving labor-management
cooperation programs; union democracy; issues of race and gender;
electoral politics; and responses to the decline of organized
labor.