Labor Relations: Striking a Balance

Labor relations are not just about negotiating thick contracts and work rules. Traditional labor relations textbooks are dominated by rich descriptions of the how, what, and where of the major labor relations processes - what's missing is the WHY.  Labor relations processes and work rules are simply a means to more fundamental objectives. What are these objectives? Under what conditions are collectively bargained work rules a desirable or undesirable method for achieving these objectives? In the 21st century world of work, are there better ways of pursing these objectives? These are the central and engaging questions of labor relations - questions ignored by textbooks that narrowly focus on how the existing labor relations processes and detailed work rules operate in practice. The labor relations system is in flux. Designing new policies, practices, and strategies that are effective hinges on a deep understanding of the employment relationship and the past, present, and future of labor relations. Budd 5e replaces the tired paradigm of "labor relations equal detailed work rules" with the dynamic paradigm of "labor relations equal balancing workplace goals and rights." This is not to say that the existing processes are unimportant. Labor law, union organizing, bargaining, dispute resolution, and contract administration are central topics that are thoroughly covered in the heart of the 5th edition using diverse historical and contemporary examples. This edition includes diverse material to provide for a diverse perspective to labor relations.  Budd focuses on how traditional labor relations processes (like negotiating contacts) work and also WHY these processes exist. The author encourages students to consider whether there are better ways of achieving these objectives - with traditional unions, with new types or unions, or without any unions at all. Budd presents labor relations as a system for balancing employment relationship goals (efficiency, equity, and voice) and the rights of labor and management. By weaving these themes with the importance of alternative perspectives on the nature of employment relationship throughout the text, students can learn not only how the traditional labor relations processes work, but also why these processes exist and how to evaluate whether they are working. In this way, students can develop a deeper understanding of labor relations that will help them successfully navigate a contemporary labor relations system that faces severe pressures requiring new strategies, policies, and practices.

Table of Contents:
PART ONE Foundations Chapter 1:  Contemporary Labor Relations: Objectives, Practices, and Challenges Chapter 2:  Labor Unions:  Good or Bad? PART TWO The U.S. New Deal Industrial Relations System Chapter 3: Historical Development Chapter 4:  Labor Law Chapter 5:  Labor Management: Strategies, Structures, and Constraints Chapter 6:  Union Organizing Chapter 7:  Bargaining Chapter 8:  Impasses, Strikes, and Dispute Resolution Chapter 9:  Contact Clauses and Their Administration PART THREE  Issues for 21st Century Chapter 10:  Flexibility, Empowerment, and Partnership Chapter 11:  Globalization and Financialization PART FOUR  Reflection Chapter 12:  Comparative Labor Relations Chapter 13:  What Should Labor Relations Do? APPENDIX A:  THE NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS ACT (1935, AS AMENDED) APPENDIX B:  UNIVERSAL DECLARATION OF HUMAN RIGHTS (UNITED NATIONS, 1948) APPENDIX C:  A SAMPLE NLRB DECISION APPENDIX D:  COLLECTIVE BARGAINING SIMULATION: THE ZINNIA AND SERVICE WORKERS LOCAL H-56

About the Author :
John W. Budd is a professor in the Center for Human Resources and Labor Studies at the University of Minnesota Carlson School of Management, where he holds the Indus trial Relations Land Grant Chair. He is a Phi Beta Kappa graduate of Colgate University and received M.A. and Ph.D. degrees from Princeton University. Professor Budd has taught labor relations to undergraduates, professional masters students, and Ph.D. candidates and has received multiple departmental teaching awards as well as an excellence in education award from the Labor and Employment Relations Association (LERA). He has served on LERAs education committee and executive board and has published journal articles about teaching labor relations. Professor Budds main research interests are in industrial relations, especially labor relations. He is the author of The Thought of Work (Cornell University Press) Employment with a Human Face: Balancing Efficiency, Equity, and Voice (Cornell University Press), and Invisible Hands, Invisible Objectives: Bringing Workplace Law and Public Policy into Focus (with Stephen Befort, Stanford University Press) and the coeditor of The Ethics of Human Resources and Industrial Relations (with James Scoville, Labor and Employment Relations Association). He has also published numerous articles in Industrial and Labor Relations Review, Industrial Relations, the Journal of Labor Economics, the British Journal of Industrial Relations, the Journal of Industrial Relations, Labor Studies Journal, and other journals and edited volumes. He is a LERA Fellow and serves on the editorial boards of the British Journal of Industrial Relations, ILR Review, Human Resource Management Journal, and Labour and Industry. Professor Budd has been the director of the University of Minnesotas Center for Human Resources and Labor Studies and has also served as director of graduate studies for Minnesotas graduate program in human resources and industrial relations, one of the oldest and largest such graduate programs in the United States. He also has a monthly blog called Whither Work?