Labor Relations ECE

by Joe
(Fort Worth, Texas, USA)

I wanted to tell all of you about my recent experience with the upper level Labor Relations ECE.

I felt that it wasn't too hard, but in my situation I have been a union member for over a decade, so most of the questions that were in the test were common knowledge for me, which is why I chose the exam for an elective credit.

I still believe though, that if you are not like me and are new to labor relations, that this will not be a bad test. The two main big parts of the exam were the collective bargaining process and an overview of labor relations (laws, court cases and history). This accounts for a majority of the test.

I bought the book that Excelsior recommended and everything you need to know came out of it. I would focus on all of the definitions and vocabulary, along with knowing key court cases and Acts (there's about 7-10 of those).

You need to also know about how local unions operate on a day to day basis and what their goals are. Also, remember key people and organizations that built up the unions in the late 1800s and early 1900s. The book was a great tool as far as supplying all of this information.

If you summarize each chapter, study the vocab and remember key court cases, then you will do okay on a majority of the test.

In my opinion, this test was a 1, on a scale of 1-5. However, I could see someone rating this as a 3 possibly, if they were brand new to labor relations.

A QUICK WORD ABOUT ECE'S
Once you schedule your exam with Excelsior, you will NOT get your money back if you cancel or reschedule. They will actually charge you an extra $20 administrative fee. So make sure that when you schedule your test, nothing will come up and that you will be 100% ready to go.

ECE transcript services also charge you $12 to send your exam to your college. UEXCEL tests (lower level exams) charge you nothing for this same service.

Lastly, buy your book on Amazon or something similar. Excelsior will charge you upwards of $220 for the book. I got mine online for about $100. You DO NOT need the brand new edition of the book either. You can get by with the older, cheaper textbook.

History has not changed and labor relations/unions have stayed the same over the past 5 years, so do not worry about having a book from 2002 or something. The only thing that has changed with unions in the last 10 years is that they are now focusing on organizaing public sector employees. Other than that, same as 100 years ago.

I hope this helps you on your test! Happy studying.