Labour Studies (LBST) 413
What Do Unions Do?

This version of LBST 413 closed. To current version.

Delivery mode: Individualized study
Credits: Reading - 3 - Social Science
Prerequisite: None. LBST 200 or LBST 202 is recommended but not required. The course is designed for students who have already completed some labour studies or related courses.
Centre: Centre for Work and Community Studies
Challenge for Credit: LBST 413 is not available for challenge

>> Overview | Objectives | Outline | Evaluation | Course Materials | Course Fees
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Overview

LBST 413 investigates the theory and practice of trade unions in contemporary capitalist societies. The course requires students to read some theoretical and conceptual material on trade union behaviour in capitalist societies, two book-length case studies of unions, and a book-length case study of a strike.

The purpose of the course is twofold. First, it will expand students' theoretical understanding of trade unionism and the labour movement by having them think about the purpose of trade unions. Second, it will encourage students to think critically about actual trade union practice by analysing a series of case studies and by undertaking a research project that allows students to investigate more fully one of the issues raised in the course.

Objectives

Upon completion of LBST 413, students should be able to

  1. discuss the relationship between unions, strikes, workplaces, and the state
  2. discuss the development of the Energy and Chemical Workers Union in light of Hyman's theoretical discussion of unions
  3. evaluate the significance of the Hormel strike, and Rachleff's analysis of it in light of Hyman's theoretical discussion of unions
  4. use Hyman's theoretical discussion of unions to assess White's analysis of women in the Canadian Union of Postal Workers
  5. comment on the role of trade unions in capitalist societies.

Outline

  • Unit 1 The Political Economy of Industrial Relations
  • Unit 2 The Energy and Chemical Workers Union
  • Unit 3 The Hormel Strike
  • Unit 4 Women and the Canadian Union of Postal Workers

Evaluation

To receive credit for LBST 413, students must complete the course assignments. The weighting of assignments is as follows:

Essay 1 Essay 2 Essay 3 Total
20% 30% 50% 100%

Course Materials

Textbooks

Hyman, Richard. 1989. The Political Economy of Industrial Relations: Theory and Practice in a Cold Climate. Basingstoke: Macmillan.

Rachleff, Peter. 1993. Hard-Pressed in the Heartland: The Hormel Strike and the Future of the Labor Movement. Boston: South End Press.

Roberts, Wayne. 1990. Cracking the Canadian Formula: The Making of the Energy and Chemical Workers Union. Toronto: Between the Lines.

White, Julie. 1990. Mail and Female: Women and the Canadian Union of Postal Workers. Toronto: Thompson Educational Publishing.

Other Material

The course materials include a student manual and study guide.

Athabasca University reserves the right to amend course outlines occasionally and without notice.
Courses offered by other delivery methods may vary from their individualized-study counterparts.

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This page was updated by G. Husch