37:575:100 Introduction to Labor Studies and Employment Relations

How 37:575:100 is assessed

Weights are those in the Fall 2026 syllabus and total 100%. Two details differ between course documents. The grading list gives the introductory exercises 1% in total, while the Week 1 instructions describe the activity choice as worth 2%. The syllabus gives the take-home final a due date of Tuesday 15 December at 11:59 p.m., while the Canvas final exam page lists 13 December, with availability until 15 December. Plan for the earlier date. The syllabus is marked as a draft subject to change, and the instructors may replace any quiz or assignment with an individual oral exam.

Current 37:575:100 dates

Dates are as published in the Fall 2026 syllabus and the Canvas assignment pages. Confirm exact deadlines and submission settings in the live LMS.

What 37:575:100 covers

Nine chapters follow the three units of the syllabus: the situation working people face today, diversity and employee rights, and the ways unions and public policy can improve working lives.

It meets the Social Analysis goal of the Rutgers Core and can be a first step toward a labor studies major or minor.

The Fall 2026 sections covered here are online and largely asynchronous, with weeks running from Monday to Sunday night and most work due on Thursday or Sunday evening.

How the three units build an argument

Unit I, on the situation working people face today, sets out the evidence: wages that have lagged profits since the 1980s, corporations that replaced career ladders with contingent work, and inequality by class, race and gender.

Unit II, on diversity, work and employee rights, asks who is protected. It begins with employment at will, the rule that lets a US employer fire for any reason, fair or unfair, or none, and moves through race, gender and immigration.

Unit III, on improving working people's lives, turns to remedies: the New Deal and the industrial unions it made possible, what unions do today, how they are organized, and which public policies could change work in the future.

How you are assessed

The grade rewards steady participation more than a single high-stakes test. Weekly threaded discussions carry 36% and three online unit quizzes another 36%.

A take-home short-answer final is worth 15%, and a project of your choice 10%: a live team bargaining exercise, a paper on a visit to a labor museum, or an analysis of a real union organizing campaign.

Short rights and movie checks and the introductory exercises make up the rest.

What makes an answer strong here

The instructors add a distinctive objective: you should be able to use facts and concepts from the course to argue convincingly against common fallacies about employment relations. That shapes what good work looks like.

A strong forum post or short answer states the claim fairly, names the assumption behind it, brings a specific reading, law or number, and explains the mechanism before concluding.

The guide models that move in every chapter, from the claim that hard work guarantees a good job to the claim that unions only raise costs.

How this guide is organized

Nine chapters follow the weekly schedule, grouping weeks where the course materials treat them together.

Each chapter explains the core ideas, works through an original example in the course's short-answer style, defines the key terms and answers the questions students ask most. The practice section rehearses the unit quizzes, and the final section plans the take-home exam week around both published due dates.

Worked example · free

Read a family work history through culture, structure and agency

Key terms

Employment at Will

The US legal default under which an employer may dismiss an employee for any reason, fair or unfair, or for none.

Just Cause

A standard requiring a legitimate, job-related reason for dismissal, such as misconduct, poor performance or the work no longer being needed.

Internal Labor Market

An employment system in which workers are hired at the bottom of job ladders and higher posts are filled by promotion from within.

Contingent Work

Temporary, leased, subcontracted or part-time employment that carries less security than a permanent job.

Collective Bargaining

Negotiation between a union and an employer over pay, benefits and workplace rules for a whole group of workers.

Union Density

The share of workers who belong to a union; the course readings put it at 10.3% of US workers in 2021.

Right-to-Work Law

A state law that bars requiring employees to pay for the union that bargains on their behalf.

Wagner Act

The National Labor Relations Act of 1935, the New Deal law designed to foster unions and shift economic power toward workers.

Gender Wage Gap

The difference between men's and women's median earnings, measured relative to men's median earnings.

Statistical Discrimination

A decision about an individual that rests on a stereotype about a group, such as assuming a young woman will leave after having children.

Prevailing Wage

The going rate of pay in an area or industry, which union contracts can raise for non-union workers too.

Social Class

A position in the economic order, shaped by income, wealth and occupation, that affects access to education, jobs and political influence.

37:575:100 FAQ

Questions students ask in each 37:575:100 chapter

Why does the course begin with a family work-history interview?

It gives you a concrete comparison between an older generation's working life and today's, which the Unit I readings then explain through changes in corporations, unions, inequality and the balance of bargaining power. Chapter 01 · Work, Inequality and Social Class Today

What was an internal labor market?

It was the career system of large US firms: people were hired into entry jobs, promoted from within, trained on the job and paid by job title and seniority, which gave many workers careers rather than a series of jobs. Chapter 02 · Corporations and Work in the New Economy

Can an American employer fire someone for no reason?

In most jobs, yes. Employment at will lets a private employer dismiss a worker for any reason or none, unless a statute, a contract or the narrow public-policy exception applies, or the worker is covered by a union contract. Chapter 03 · Employment at Will and Workplace Rights

Why is the slaughterhouse article so central to Week 7?

It shows discrimination as a working system rather than individual attitudes: jobs, pay and danger were assigned along racial lines, and the resulting divisions helped the employer defeat a union and keep wages flat. Chapter 04 · Race, Ethnicity and Immigration at Work

Is the gender wage gap 85% or 15%?

The slides' 85% figure for 2024 is the ratio of women's to men's earnings, so the gap in that measure is about 15%. Keep the ratio and the gap distinct, and do not mix it with the separate international measure in the slides. Chapter 05 · Gender, Work and Family

Why does the course treat the Wagner Act as a turning point?

Metzgar presents it as the centerpiece of a New Deal strategy to foster unions and redistribute power, and membership grew from about 12 percent of non-farm workers before it to 35 percent by the end of the war. Chapter 06 · The New Deal and the Rise of Industrial Unions

How much more do union members earn?

The 2022 Bloomberg explainer cites Bureau of Labor Statistics figures of $1,169 a week for union members against $975 for non-members in 2021, about $200 more, along with better retirement and health benefits. Chapter 07 · What Unions Do and How Collective Bargaining Works

Why did union membership fall so far?

The Week 2 explainer names automation, offshoring, the shift from manufacturing to services, labor law that tilted toward employers, and right-to-work laws in more than half the states. Chapter 08 · Union Organizing, Membership and New Tactics

Will AI eliminate white-collar jobs?

The course reading presents it as uncertain: adoption is rising from a low base and some firms have cut staff, but a slowdown can also reduce technology spending, and some firms plan to retrain workers rather than cut them. Chapter 09 · Public Policy and the Future of Work

How to study for the exam

Work week by week, because forums close on Sunday and cannot be made up. Keep one running sheet per unit with the numbers, laws, cases and dates from readings and videos, since each quiz covers the whole unit. For every chapter, practise answering one popular claim about work with course evidence in four or five sentences; that is the skill the forums, the projects and the take-home final all reward.

Choose your project in Week 1 and put its deadlines in your calendar.