Labour Relations

Curriculum guideline

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Course
BLAW 3760
Discontinued
No
Course code
BLAW 3760
Descriptive
Labour Relations
Department
Business Law
Faculty
Commerce & Business Administration
Credits
3.00
Start date
End term
Not Specified
PLAR
No
Semester length
15 weeks
Max class size
35
Course designation
None
Industry designation
CPHR
Contact hours

Lecture: 3 hours/week

and

Seminar: 1 hour/week

Method(s) of instruction
Lecture
Seminar
Learning activities

Methods will include lectures, seminars, text and reading assignments, role-playing and/or classroom discussion.  Guest speakers and audio-visual materials will be used where appropriate.  All students will participate in a collective bargaining simulation.

Course description
This course is an introduction to the Canadian industrial relations system, including: the historical development of trade unions; the structure, organization and operation of unions; public policy covering labour and employment relations; union certification; collective bargaining; contract administration; dispute resolution; and contemporary issues in labour relations.

Students who have already received credit for BUSN 3760 will not get further credit for this course.
Course content
  1. Origins and history of Canada's labour movement
    1. International unions
    2. Craft and industrial unions
    3. The Winnipeg general strike
    4. Socio-political forces affecting the growth and support for unions
    5. The Great Depression, war and post-war labour-management conflict
  2. Structure of unions
    1. The union local, national, and international structures
    2. Labour councils and federations
    3. The Canadian Labour Congress
    4. Unions and union membership in Canada
  3. Labour legislation and public policy
    1. B.C. Labour Relations Code and guide
    2. Employment Standards Act
    3. Impact of Human Rights legislation
    4. Recent changes to legislation
  4. Collective bargaining rights
    1. Reasons employees join unions
    2. The certification process
    3. Collective bargaining
    4. Contract administration
    5. Grievances
    6. Arbitration
    7. Conciliation
    8. Mediation
    9. Strikes and lockouts
  5. Contemporary issues
    1. The future of Industrial Relations: unionism vs. managerialism
Learning outcomes

At the end of this course, successful students will be able to:

  • demonstrate knowledge of the purpose and history of trade unions in Canada;
  • identify the current structures, organization, and operations of unions;
  • explain public policy and legislation covering labour and employment relations;
  • analyze the processes of union certification, collective bargaining, and the administration of collective agreements;
  • identify effective negotiating approaches for resolving conflict and apply this knowledge by role-playing in a collective bargaining simulation; and
  • recognize contemporary issues in labour relations.
Means of assessment

Assessment will be in accordance with the Douglas College Evaluation Policy.

Term Examination(s) 30 - 50%*
Final Examination 25 - 40%
Assignment(s) 10 - 30%
Simulation 10 - 20%
Participation 0 - 5%
Total: 100%

NOTES:

  1. *No one examination may be worth more than 40%.
  2. Instructors may use a student’s record of attendance and/or level of active participation in the course as part of the student’s graded performance. Where this occurs, expectations and grade calculations regarding class attendance and participation will be clearly defined in the Instructor Course Outline.
  3. Students may conduct research as part of their course work in this class. Instructors for the course are responsible for ensuring that student research projects comply with College policies on ethical conduct for research involving humans, which can require obtaining Informed Consent from participants and getting the approval of the Douglas College Research Ethics Board prior to conducting the research.
Textbook materials

Suffield, Larry, G. Ganon, Labour Relations. Latest edition, (Toronto: Pearson Education Canada), or

Other textbook(s) approved by the Business Law Department, and

Additional cases and/or readings as per the Instructor's discretion. 

Prerequisites

None

Corequisites

None

Equivalencies

BUSN 3760

Which prerequisite

Nil