The Best Industrial Relations Books of All Time

From longtime labor organizer Jane McAlevey, a vital call-to-arms in favor of unions, a key force capable of defending our democracy. For decades, racism, corporate greed, and a skewed political system have been eating away at the social and political fabric of the United States. Yet as McAlevey reminds us, there is one weapon whose effectiveness has been proven repeatedly throughout U.S. history: unions.

In A Collective Bargain, longtime labor organizer, environmental activist, and political campaigner Jane McAlevey makes the case that unions are a key institution capable of taking effective action against today’s super-rich corporate class. Since the 1930s, when unions flourished under New Deal protections, corporations have waged a stealthy and ruthless war against the labor movement. And they’ve been winning. Until today. Because, as McAlevey shows, unions are making a comeback. Want to reverse the nation’s mounting wealth gap? Put an end to sexual harassment in the workplace? End racial disparities on the job? Negotiate climate justice? Bring back unions. As McAlevey travels from Pennsylvania hospitals, where nurses are building a new kind of patient-centered unionism, to Silicon Valley, where tech workers have turned to old-fashioned collective action, to the battle being waged by America’s teachers, readers have a ringside seat at the struggles that will shape our country―and our future.

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.

As globally recognized arbitration experts, the authors of THE LABOR RELATIONS PROCESS bring nearly a century of combined experience with the labor movement, labor relations, and collective bargaining to this popular text. Packed with real-world examples and quotes from practitioners in the field, this 11th edition explores labor's history from inception to current and emerging trends, touching on government, white-collar, and international contexts to give you an unmatched perspective of the topics.

Chapters include in-depth analyses of the relationship between management and labor, including key participants in the processes, and the rights and responsibilities of each. Labor agreements, collective bargaining, contract administration, arbitration, and many other critical issues and processes highlight the complex, exciting nature of organized labor, and introduce you to the wide variety of professional opportunities available to you today.