More 2nd 8 Week Options

Labor Studies is offereing several 2nd 8 Week courses. Remember it is up to you to look into what requirements these might fulfill! Labor Studies courses are not within the College of Arts and Sciences.

1 credit hour classes:

LSTU-L 290 Working Class Hollywood:  Labor Issues in Popular American Films, Class Number 14200, 1 cr. Class meets Tuesday, 5:45-9:15 pm, BH006, Nov 2, 9, 16, 30 and December 7. Within the contemporary American workplace, the push for unions, the process of globalization, and the possibility of discrimination based upon gender, race or sexual orientation usually define employees’ relationships with each other, with management, and with society at large. Such issues also shape workers’ conceptions and interpretations of their workplace culture. This course will use fictional film as a tool with which to examine these matters that are fundamental to American labor. Students will view particular popular films that address efforts to unionize, the effects of global marketing and industrialization and the threat from gender and sexual discrimination on the job. Class discussions will compare these cinematic representations with the “actual” experiences of ordinary American workers, toward recognizing the real importance of these issues for modern labor and understanding the ways they might be translated for entertainment purposes.  Instructor: Cynthia Yaudes, (Organization of American Historians, IUB).

LSTU-L 290 Truck, Cars and Auto Workers, Topic: The Rise and Fall and Rebirth of the US Auto Industry, Class Number 14201, 1 cr., Class meets Wednesday, 5:45-8:25 pm, WH008, November 3, 10, 17, December 1 and 8. This short course will examine the development of the U.S. auto industry and the role of workers and unions in making it the envy of the World by the 1950s.  More than any other institution, the U.S. auto industry defined the economic and social institutions of modern America.  Today, the world has changed.  The industry once dominated by Ford, General Motors and Chrysler is now seriously challenged by new foreign competitors.  Is this good for American workers and consumers?  We’ll discuss what’s happening, look into the future, and tally up some possible winners and losers.   Instructor: Kevin Beasley.

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The following are web-based courses are being offered via the ONCOURSE system:

LSTU-L 100 Introduction to Unions and Collective Bargaining Class Numbers 20857, 18547 meet October 25 – December 13.  Class Numbers 18653, 18654, 18655, 19946, 22893 meet November 1 – December 13. .  This introductory course examines the many facets of Labor Studies.  We will learn how unions function and the contributions they have made to the American landscape.  The course will provide an overview of the U.S. labor movement’s triumphs and tragedies throughout history, as well as the struggles working people face today.  Finally, we will examine a contemporary labor struggle as a vehicle to explore changing labor-management relations, the U.S. government’s role, and internal struggles within the labor movement itself.   Instructors:  C.J. Hawking, Monica Bielski Boris and Frank Hammer.

L104-Introduction to Study of Labor History  Class Number 20094  meets October 25 – December 13.  Class numbers  22197 and 23290 meet November 1 – December 13; 3 cr. .  What can be learned from labor history?  This class explores both central issues as well as historical methodologies looking at primary and secondary sources, considering bias and interpretation.  Focusing on a few central questions and events, this class serves as an orientation for the study of labor history.    Instructors: Joseph Varga (Labor Studies Program, IUB) and Paul Mishler (Labor Studies Program, IUSB).

LSTU-L 110 Introduction to Labor Studies: Labor & Society  3 cr.  Class Number 18506 meet October 25 - December 13.  Class Numbers 18507, 18634 and 18335 meet November 1 – December 13. This is an introductory course on the changing role of labor unions and work in American society. The course will explore how labor unions initiate actions on social issues that impact the American working class, the economy, public policy, and politics.  Instructors: Shariq Siddiqui, Robert Saute and Catherine Mulder.

LSTU-L 205 Contemporary Labor Problems  3 cr.  Class Number 19925 meets October 25 – December 13. .  While the President has declared the economy is strong, all is not rosy for American workers or the labor movement.   Hundreds 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.  Instructor: Beverly Takahashi.