4-32-101 - Creation Powers and duties.

4-32-101. Creation Powers and duties.

(a)  There is hereby established within the department of labor and workforce development an institute for labor-management studies, which shall operate to develop an association between labor-management and higher education for the development and delivery of relevant, comprehensive, educational services to workers throughout this state.

(b)  (1)  This institute will function to facilitate uniformity in:

          (A)  Broader understanding and meaningful perspectives of societal issues, including union and worker roles;

          (B)  Comprehensive educational opportunity for individual worker growth and advancement; and

          (C)  Improvement of individual technical skills related to union and civic responsibility, especially those required in an urban setting.

     (2)  This can be accomplished through an array of activities related to the following functions:

          (A)  Labor-management extension programs;

          (B)  Service and resource projects; and

          (C)  College and university-based labor-management studies programs.

(c)  The department is authorized to contract with an institution or institutions of higher education in Tennessee to achieve these goals within budgetary limitations.

(d)  The institute may promulgate reasonable fees pursuant to the provisions of the Uniform Administrative Procedures Act, compiled in chapter 5 of this title, for its educational programs. If revenues collected pursuant to this subsection (d) are sufficient, then the institute's educational programs shall include the training of labor and management in communication skills and conflict resolution.

[Acts 1978, ch. 840, § 1; T.C.A., § 4-3201; Acts 1986, ch. 844, § 8; 1987, ch. 14, § 4; 1997, ch. 193, § 1; 1999, ch. 520, § 30.]