Strategy and Power: Advanced Collective Bargaining Certificate Program

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Richard de Vries

Teamsters Local 705, Chicago

Richard de Vries recently retired after 30 years working as a Teamsters Business Agent for several local. During that time, he was the chief negotiator for multiple collective bargaining agreements. Teaching is part of his regular routine. For 16 years he worked with the Chicago District Council Apprentice Program. For the last dozen years he has taught with the AFL-CIO Rocky Mountain Labor School, DePaul.

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Chris Brooks

Chris Brooks is former Chief of Staff for Shawn Fain one of the lead architects of the union’s historic 2023 Stand Up Strike as well as the landmark 2024 organizing victory at Volkswagen in Chattanooga, Tennessee. Chris has worked at several unions and movement organizations over the last fifteen years as a strategist, educator, and journalist and has a master’s degree in labor studies from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst.

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Rebecca Givan, Ph.D.

President Rutgers AAUP, Associate Professor, Rutgers University Labor Studies and Employment Relations (LSER)

Rebecca Kolins Givan is the president of Rutgers-AAUP. She is also an associate professor of Labor Studies and Employment Relations in the School of Management and Labor Relations at Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey. She has published widely on employment relations in health care, comparative welfare states and labor studies in journals such as Social Forces, ILR Review, and British Journal of Industrial Relations. Her recent book The Challenge to Change: Reforming Health Care on the Front Line in the United States and the United Kingdom was published in 2016 by Cornell University Press.

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Adrienne E. Eaton, Ph.D.

Distinguished Professor, Rutgers University Labor Studies and Employment Relations (LSER)

Adrienne E. Eaton is a Distinguished Professor of Labor Studies and Employment Relations in the School of Management and Labor Relations at Rutgers University. She is co-author of the book, Healing Together: The Labor-Management Partnership at Kaiser Permanente (2009) and co-editor of books on collective action by informal workers and employment dispute resolution. She has published numerous journal articles and book chapters on health care employment relations, labor-management partnership, union organizing, and the impact of unions on various types of workers including graduate student employees. She is a past President of the Labor and Employment Relations Association, a past President of the Rutgers AAUP-AFT and a current member of the New Jersey Public Employment Relations Commission.

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Ahmer Qadeer

Managing Director of QRI, formerly of SEIU

Ahmer Qadeer is a Managing Director at QRI, a private investigation and research firm. He specializes in conducting strategic research and investigations on behalf of advocacy organizations, with a focus on promoting economic justice and labor rights. His expertise spans antitrust issues, corporate governance, and workplace organizing. Before joining QRI, Ahmer served as the Director of Strategic Initiatives at the Service Employees International Union (SEIU), where he oversaw the union’s research, public policy, and capital strategies work. He also held positions at SEIU 32BJ, the AFL-CIO, and Workers United. Ahmer holds a Ph.D. in Planning and Public Policy from Rutgers University, where his research examined regulatory mechanisms to promote accountability and systemic change in housing markets. His work combines rigorous academic training with practical experience. Ahmer is a Senior Research Fellow at the Workplace Justice Lab, where he researches labor issues and their implications for policy and advocacy.

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Todd Vachon, Ph.D.

Director Rutgers LEARN, Associate Professor, Rutgers University Labor Studies and Employment Relations (LSER)

Todd Vachon serves as the Cook/Douglass chapter President of Rutgers AAUP and as the President of the Middlesex Somerset Central Labor Council. As the Director of LEARN, Todd works to ensure a broad selection of courses and educational opportunities for NJ workers, labor relations professionals, and worker organizations. Todd’s scholarly interests include the political economy of American capitalism, social stratification, social movements, and the intersection of climate change and work and employment issues. His research has been published in numerous top academic journals and book chapters. He is the co-editor of the book Revaluing Work(ers): Toward a Democratic and Sustainable Future, with Tobias Schulze-Cleven, published in 2021 by Cornell University Press. Todd has over 20 years of experience in the labor movement as a Laborer (LIUNA), a Carpenter (UBC), and a Teacher (AFT). He has served as shop steward at various worksites, worked as an organizer, and served as the founding President of UAW Local 6950, representing over 2,200 graduate employees while completing his PhD at the University of Connecticut. Todd has also worked throughout his career as a labor educator with the UConn Labor Education Center, various unions, and Rutgers LEARN.

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Danielle Newsome

Director Collective Bargaining, CWA NewsGuild

Danielle Newsome is a staff representative serving as Director of Collective Bargaining for The NewsGuild/CWA. She coordinates administrative, strategic and educational aspects of the union's bargaining program to support dozens of locals across the United States.  Danielle previously worked as a Labor Liaison/Assistant District Attorney for the Philadelphia District Attorney’s Office (DAO), where she investigated and prosecuted employers for economic crimes against workers. Prior to launching the DAO's Worker Protection sub-unit in September 2019, Danielle served as an in-house attorney for a union federation and practiced labor and employment law at a mid-size firm. 

Danielle is a former union organizer, has taught numerous workshops on a variety of labor and employment law topics, and is currently working with local activists to create a Black Worker Center in Philadelphia. She earned her juris doctor degree cum laude from Temple University’s Beasley School of Law and her bachelor's degree from Cornell University's School of Industrial and Labor Relations.

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Steven P. Weissman, Esq., J.D.

Rutgers School of Law, Newark

Mr. Weissman, of Weissman & Mintz, LLC, specializes in employment-related matters. A published author, he has been a bencher for the Reitman Inn of Court and is an Executive Committee member of the New Jersey State Bar Association’s Labor and Employment Law Section. He also serves on the State Advisory Council to the Rutgers University School of Management and Labor Relations.

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Djar Horn

Senior Labor Education Specialist, Rutgers LEARN

Djar Horn is the Senior Labor Education Specialist at LEARN. She develops and facilitates labor education programs, assists with applied research, and helps with outreach and promotion for LEARN. She is also the lead coordinator for the Summer School for Women in Unions and Worker Organizations at the Rutgers Labor Education Center. Djar has more than 20 years of experience in the labor movement—including as a union journeyman carpenter, a union organizer, and most recently as an HPAE staff representative where her responsibilities included leading negotiations, handling grievances/arbitrations, leading internal organizing campaigns, training members, and mentoring co-workers. Djar is an active member in her Union, URA-AFT, Greater NJ CLUW and EWOC.

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Learning Objectives

Students will be able to:

• achieve a working knowledge of advanced collective bargaining concepts
• establish and facilitate a bargaining committee; carry out key responsibilities of the committee; and build unity within the committee
• analyze the financial and corporate structures of employers, both private and public, and understand revenue sources, operating budgets and liabilities
• describe and assess the legal issues that may arise during bargaining and anticipate potential  points of impasse
• develop and write contract proposals to address emerging and divisive issues in the workplace
• describe the relationship between the bargaining strategy at the table and member mobilization and effectively implement a plan of action
• apply a variety of successful bargaining strategies used by public and private sector unions including multi-unit, labor/community partnerships and public budget fights

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Course Outcomes

The goal of this advanced certificate program is to build the knowledge base and power of union-side bargaining teams through an increased understanding of the principals and application of strategic research and thinking as well as the fundamentals of labor law, committee work, and conflict resolution within labor. During a time of increased attacks on workers’ rights and unions, it is crucial that labor representatives approach bargaining from a strategic perspective, with a clear strategy for winning that is informed by a strong power analysis and supported by discipline and unity in the process.