Unlike Europe, where most public sector workers have long been included in collective bargaining agreements, the United States excluded public employees from such legislation until the 1960s and 70s. Since then, union membership in the U. S. has grown more rapidly among public workers than among workers in the private sector. This book provides up-to-date information on public sector collective bargaining in the United States today. The editors' seek to understand the real nature of PSB by examining eight states where the action is taking place -- California, Hawaii, Illinois, Michigan, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin. The chapters offer unique case studies of legal origins, developments, and challenges to collective bargaining; negotiations experience and outcomes; discussion of legislation; and emphasis of histoical development as well as current practice.

Paper reviewing opinions and developments in the relationship of civil servant collective bargaining to the long-established civil service or merit system in the USA at the national level and local level of government - examines the impact of increasing trade unionization of civil servants, the right to strike, freedom of association, etc., and comments on relevant labour legislation. References.

The chapters in this anthology deal with many of these all-encompassing constraints and how the various participants seek to deal with them. Model agreements, negotiating levers, the balance of power between managers and government employees, contracting-out versus producing in-house, the impact of bargaining unit structure on productivity, the relationship of municipal budget making to collective bargaining, public employee union growth and organizing trends, and many other topics are dealt with in this volume. These issues are discussed in the context of several specific types of public employees such as: municipal protection employees, mass transit workers, health professionals in relation to government service, and, the armed forces and civilian federal employees.