Discusses the use of joint training approaches in industrial relations and the most effective training methods and techniques for the different groups in the industrial relations scene: management, supervisors, and union representatives. Outlines an industrial relations joint training strategy devised by the authors. (MF)

The decentralized structure and functions of labor unions and their educational programming are examined, and the support of federal and state legislation and colleges and universities are traced. The four union educational categories are labor education, apprentice education, vocational training, and self-improvement education. Labor education is…

The Saskatchewan Federation of Labor (SFL) conducted a Workers' Education for Skills Training, or WEST Program, to upgrade its membership's basic literacy skills. The purpose of the WEST Program was to develop, ensure access to, and build support for a workplace literacy program designed to meet the diverse needs of affiliates' members. Six…

A class project undertaken in an English-as-a-Second-Language class is described and presented. Students participating in the project were union employees in a Manhattan electronics factory, and most were native Spanish speakers. The project's objective was to produce an illustrated book and tapes to document work and union experience in the…

Labor unions have provided English-as-a-Second-Language (ESL) instruction in the workplace since the early 1900s, to serve a growing immigrant workforce. In the late 1970s and early 1980s, an increase in immigrant population, decline in manufacturing jobs, new technology, and work restructuring brought a new urgency to union-sponsored worker…

This report describes work-based programs that companies and affiliated unions have organized in lifelong learning and career development for their employees. The programs offer a variety of approaches in such areas as program content, target populations, methods for attracting participation, learning-related technologies, financing, and…

Current types of industry-sponsored educational programs, training facilities, and teaching and evaluation methods are described. The history of education and training within the corporate world and the roles of government and unions are traced. Factors that have limited college and industrial cooperation in employee education are also identified.…

The Columbia-Willamette Skill Builders Consortium was formed in early 1988 in response to a growing awareness of the need for improved workplace literacy training and coordinated service delivery in Northwest Oregon. In June 1990, the consortium received a National Workplace Literacy Program grant to develop and demonstrate such training. The…

The content and design of a workplace communication workshop jointly sponsored by a university teachers' center and a local union are described. The workshop objective is to provide workers for whom English is a second language with upgraded writing skills needed to fill out report forms, improved document reading skills for reading charts and…

The report describes the design and outcomes of a workplace education program undertaken cooperatively by Northeastern Illinois University, the Amalgamated Clothing and Textile Workers' Union, and a number of local businesses to provide adult basic education, English-as-a-Second-Language, and job skills instruction in the workplace. The report…

A workplace literacy partnership program model was demonstrated at four Chrysler plants in Indiana. Objectives were to improve workers' individual skills, enhance personal productivity, and increase work force job security and plant competitiveness. During the 3-month start-up phase, project staff worked with management and labor representatives…

Anodizing, Inc., Teamsters Local 162, and Mt. Hood Community College (Oregon) developed a workplace literacy program for workers at Anodizing. These workers did not have the basic skill competencies to benefit from company training efforts in statistical process control and quality assurance and were not able to advance to lead and supervisory…

As part of its ongoing reform of occupational and technical training, Quebec has adopted a sectoral initiatives policy that has provided the mandate and organizational structure to sectoral committees for planning occupational and technical training based on dual cooperation between employers and unions in various sectors and between…

This book documents the range of training programs that are being established by employers and unions; assesses porgram functioning and results; and offers insights for practitioners, scholars, and policy makers. An introduction (Ferman et al.) provides a general framework for thinking about union-management training programs and presents an…