Labor relations training is an advanced program for people who have had some experience and knowledge within human resources. Generally, to succeed in this field it is particularly beneficial to have spent some time working in industry in order to have gained a body of experience, people skills, and negotiation skills within human resources or management. You may even have a legal background within employment law. Labor relations training could teach you a number of skills, some of which you may have picked up during your working life. Typically, courses might include: collective bargaining, tactics and techniques for collective bargaining, union liaison, unions, strategy, and employee compensation. You will need to have an excellent grasp of grievance procedure, wages and salaries, employee welfare, health care, pensions, union and management practices, and contract law.

Increasingly, many industries are de-unionizing, so the traditional roles of labor relations are shifting, in fact you may need to negotiate without union involvement. There are still some sectors that continue to have active and powerful unions. You may be responsible for preparing packages and information for senior management to use during negotiations. Labor relations specialists are employed within large corporations, traditionally where there is a large manual labor workforce. Healthcare and local state, and federal government also employ labor relations personnel.