A Look Ahead at Public Employee Unionism

Abstract

The surge in public sector union membership in the 1960s has abated, although the proportion of members who bargain is still on the increase. It seems likely that bargaining will become more widespread in the public sector than in the private sector because public sector management resists unionization less strongly than does private sector management. Public sector unions are solidly entrenched in the large northern U.S. cities and in the coming years will be attempting to organize in the South and the Southwest and in medium-sized cities and rural areas. In the field of education one finds considerable interest in faculty bargaining and speculation about how fast this will proceed. Securing favorable legislation is essential to the success of these various public sector union efforts. Inclusion in the statutes of interest arbitration and agency shop authorization represents a probable union goal in the current decade.

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References

and Directory of National Unions and Employee Associations, 1977, Bureau of Labor Statistics Bulletin 2044 (Washington, DC: Government Printing Office, Dec. 1979), p. 78.

2. U.S., Bureau of the Census , Labor-Management Relations in State and Local Government: 1975, Series GSS no. 81 (Washington, DC: Government Printing Office, 1975), p. 9; Labor-Management Relations in State and Local Government: 1980, p. 7.

and James L. Stern , “Unionism in the Public Sector,” in Public Sector Bargaining, ed. Benjamin Aaron , Joseph R. Grodin , and James L. Stern (Washington, DC: Bureau of National Affairs, 1979).

(GERR) 21 (1024): 1614, summarizes a discussion that Vincent Drum of the U.S. postal service and Frank Connors of the NALC had at the 1983 Association of Labor Relations Agencies meeting. They indicated that the initial experimental employee involvement programs were successful and that additional programs were being undertaken.

5. The postal unions were able to secure the overturn of an Eisenhower veto of a postal bill in the 1950s, one of the few Eisenhower vetoes that were overturned.

The number of employees represented and under agreements is taken from Union Recognition in the Federal Government (Washington, DC: Government Printing Office, 1981) p. 32.

7. See “Special Report on Higher Education,” GERR, Reference File (Washington, DC: Bureau of National Affairs, 1981).

8. Bill Aussieker and J. W. Garbarino , “Measuring Faculty Unionism: Quantity and Quality,” Industrial Relations 12(2):123(May 1973).

9. U.S. Supreme Court nos. 78-857 and 78-997, National Labor Relations Board v. Yeshiva University and Yeshiva University Faculty Association v. Yeshiva University (20 Feb. 1980).

10.

10. See James P. Begin , “Grievance Mechanisms and Faculty Collegiality: The Rutgers Case,” Industrial and Labor Relations Review, 31(3) (Apr. 1978) for his analysis of this problem and his references to other authors who report similar findings.

11.

11. GERR 917:32(15 June 1981).

12.

12. GERR 21(1020):1429.

13.

13. Joyce M. Najita , “The Mandatory Agency Shop in Hawaii's Public Sector,” Industrial and Labor Relations Review, 27(3) (Apr. 1974).

14.

14. B.V.H. Schneider , “Public Sector Labor Legislation,” in Public Sector Bargaining, ed. Benjamin Aaron , Joseph R. Grodin , and James L. Stern , Industrial Relations Research Association Series (Washington, DC: Bureau of National Affairs, 1979).

15.

15. Jackson Transit Authority v. Local 1285 Amalgamated Transit Union, AFL-CIO-CLC, no. 81-411 (7 June 1982).

16.

16. James L. Stern , Richard U. Miller , Stephen A. Rubenfeld , Craig A. Olson , and Brian P. Heshizer , “Urban Mass Transit Labor Relations: The Legal Environment,” Industrial Relations Law Journal, 2:389(1977).