A Collective Bargaining Simulation

In a classroom simulation of collective bargaining, students learn about unions, employers, the labor movement, and workplace issues. Students will interact in small labor and management teams to bargain a union contract at a fictional workplace on issues that include wages, medical insurance, childcare, affirmative action, etc. Students are coached by labor relations professionals who volunteer from the fields of labor and management. Following the simulation, students analyze the outcomes of their collective bargaining experiences and determine issues they want to learn more about and take action on. Some examples include: creating a public awareness campaign on the cost of healthcare insurance and legislative action for a single-payer system, identifying union vs. non-union employers in our local economy, creating an oral history project about the causes and impact of a strike in their community, creating a peer education program about workers rights. This project was funded through the U.S. Department of Labor and used by LAUSD.