Explain the concept of a contract between employers and their employees, focusing on such concepts as hourly wages, workplace safety, benefits, holiday rights, limits on hours and overtime pay. Divide the class into employers and employees. Use chips (or pennies) to represent negotiating capital. Have each group select representatives, and meet to discuss each demand in timed sessions. Set a time limit after which both sides will begin losing capital (a work stoppage situation). Have a panel of judges assign points based on how well each side did in achieving its priorities.
Write questions pertinent to the material on baseball-shaped pieces of construction paper. These can be about significant events, people or concepts in labor relations. Divide the class into two teams, and place the "baseballs" into a hat. Draw an image of a baseball diamond on the whiteboard with cut-out players who can be advanced along the base paths. Explain that the team that is asking the questions is "pitching," and the answering team is "up to bat." Base runners represent successfully answered questions. After three "strikes" the teams switch roles.
Invite the class to imagine that the school has an indoor garden to which only faculty have access. Arrange for the class to meet with members of the school board, representatives of the teacher's union, and labor leaders in the community to learn more about the collective bargaining process. Have your students use this information to prepare a detailed strategy for how they could negotiate for use of the indoor garden.
Assign your students to research one of the major figures from labor history (such as Dorothy Day, Mother Jones, Samuel Gompers or Cesar Chavez) or events (the Lawrence Textile Strike, the Pullman Strike or the Works Progress Administration). Have them create drawings or a diorama representing the story and its relevance to worker's rights.