Certificate in Applied Labor Relations
Six weeks that turn a strong HR practitioner into a capable labor relations professional.
More than 200 hours of live, in-person instruction. Roughly 70% hands-on simulation and coached practice. Taught by practicing consultants, exclusively from the management side.
The complete lifecycle. Take one week, or take them all.
Each week is a standalone Monday–Friday module in Tulsa with its own credential and its own live-fire exercise. All six, plus between-session projects and a capstone, earn the full Certificate in Applied Labor Relations.
$15,000 for the full certificate
The root causes of frayed workplace relationships, and how to stay union-free by deserving to be. Closes with a vulnerability assessment of your own organization.
Organization vulnerability assessment
What you personally do in the first 72 hours of an organizing campaign — communications, employee meetings, and the hard one-on-one conversations.
Two-day organizing campaign, seven scored rounds
Grievances, past practice, steward interactions, and contract language — a week inside a working union plant with thirty years of history.
Live investigation, plus an audit of your own CBA
Build and argue a full case — witnesses, exhibits, openings and closings — with individual feedback on your advocacy.
Two-day mock hearing before a practicing labor arbitrator
Bargaining strategy and table skills: costed proposals, caucus discipline, and getting to a signable agreement under a deadline.
Two-day negotiation with a mediator and a contract deadline
From final bargaining collapse through resolution — plus the operational-legal boundary and when to bring in counsel. The certificate capstone happens here.
Full-day strike tabletop, capstone presentation
Where should you start?
Different weeks serve different roles. Here's the honest routing.
You'll be in the room in the first hour of a campaign. Week 2, Campaign Preparedness, is two days of live campaign simulation plus coached conversation labs.
Start with Week 2 →You handle stewards, grievances, and the contract every day. Start with Week 3, Contract Administration — it stands on its own and earns its own credential.
Start with Week 3 →Bargaining, arbitration, and strike preparedness are your accountabilities. Weeks 4–6 go deep on each, with a real arbitrator and a contract-deadline negotiation.
Weeks 4–6 · pages coming soonHR business partners moving into LR roles, and enterprises developing internal LR talent: the full certificate is the path. Multi-seat enrollment available for teams.
Apply for the full certificate →We teach you to see the way experts see.
Across the program you build the twelve mental representations that separate experienced LR professionals from novices — Power Distance, the Political Lens, Perspective Taking, and nine more. The method is deliberate practice: pre-work so class time is for doing, diagnostic scenarios that expose how you're thinking, then coached repetition until the new approach is automatic.
Every instructor is an active LRI consultant. Guest faculty include practicing labor arbitrators and labor attorneys. We do not use academic faculty.
"The people who are best at labor relations don't just know the law and the contract. They see the world differently. Our program is built to teach people to see the way experts see. That's something you can't learn in a lecture or on a Zoom call."
Simple pricing. Everything included.
- Five days, Monday–Friday, in Tulsa
- Standalone weekly LRI credential
- All materials and simulations included
- The Certificate in Applied Labor Relations, plus all six weekly credentials
- Guest arbitrator sessions, capstone review by a faculty panel
- Between-session projects that produce work product for your own organization
Held in Tulsa, Oklahoma — travel and lodging run well below NYC-based alternatives. Lodging is not included; we provide recommended hotels. HRCI recertification credit and SHRM PDCs are planned.
The ones we hear most.
Something else on your mind? Call 800-888-9115.
Do I need to take all six weeks?
No. Each week functions as a standalone module with its own learning outcomes and credential. A front-line manager might take only Week 3; a senior LR director might take Weeks 4–6. The full certificate requires all six weeks, between-session projects, and the capstone.
Why is each module a full week when other courses run a day or two?
Because a day or two is enough to explain the concepts, not enough to change how you act under pressure. A short course tells you what a past practice is; a full week has you argue one, get it wrong, and rebuild the habit before Friday. Roughly 70% of the time is live simulation, coaching, and repetition — you practice each skill enough times that it holds up back at work, not just on the slide. Five days is also what it takes to cover a complete phase of the labor relations lifecycle end to end and send you home with usable work product rather than a binder. Worth asking the other way around: if a course never drills you this hard, are you actually walking out able to do the work — or just able to describe it?
How is this different from the university programs?
Four ways. Perspective: we teach exclusively from the management side — university programs serve union reps and management in the same classroom. Format: in person, five days a week, roughly 70% simulation and practice, not Zoom. Scope: the complete lifecycle in one program. Intensity: more than 200 hours of live instruction, over four times a typical online certificate.
Who teaches it?
Active LRI consultants who do this work daily — people who have run actual campaigns, handled real grievances, negotiated real contracts, and prepared companies for real strikes. Guest faculty include practicing labor arbitrators and labor attorneys. No academic faculty.
What does a typical day look like?
8:00 AM to 5:00 PM: short content blocks of 45–90 minutes mixed with diagnostic scenarios, triad role-plays with coaching, and table-top exercises. The pace is fast and active participation is expected throughout.
What credential do I earn?
Each week earns its own LRI certificate — Campaign Preparedness, Contract Administration, Arbitration Advocacy, and so on. Completing all six plus the capstone earns the Certificate in Applied Labor Relations. Every certificate is verifiable and built to be promoted on LinkedIn and your resume. HRCI and SHRM credit are planned.
Where is it held?
A training venue in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Lodging is not included, but we provide recommended hotels — and travel and lodging run well below competing programs in New York City.
Twelve seats. The founding cohort is forming now.
Applications reviewed as received. Founding cohort members receive discounted pricing in exchange for detailed feedback.