Direct Democracy and Public Employees

2009 ◽  
Vol 99 (5) ◽  
pp. 2227-2246 ◽  
Author(s):  
John G. Matsusaka
Keyword(s):  
Political Economy ◽  
Public Sector ◽  
Interest Groups ◽  
Direct Democracy ◽  
Public Employee ◽  
Public Employees ◽  
The Public ◽  
Public Sector Employment ◽  
Initiative Process

In the public sector, employment may be inefficiently high because of patronage, and wages may be inefficiently high because of public employee interest groups. This paper explores whether the initiative process, a direct democracy institution of growing importance, ameliorates these political economy problems. In a sample of 650+ cities, I find that when public employees cannot bargain collectively and patronage could be a problem, initiatives appear to cut employment but not wages. When public employees bargain collectively, driving up wages, the initiative appears to cut wages but not employment. The employment-cutting result is robust; the wage-cutting result survives some but not all robustness tests. (JEL D72, J31, J45, J52)

Bashing Public Employees and Their Unions

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nelson Lichtenstein
Keyword(s):  
Public Education ◽  
Public Sector ◽  
Collective Bargaining ◽  
Public Employee ◽  
Public Employees ◽  
The Public ◽  
The Will ◽  
The Right ◽  
Government Workers ◽  
Public Sector Unionism

This chapter considers the idea of governmental “sovereignty,” as used by the right, to undermine the rationale for collective bargaining in the public sector. From the Boston Police Strike of 1919 forward, conservatives have considered the organization of government workers to be incompatible with the sovereign status of those entities sustained by taxes and elected by the populace. Public employee unions subverted the will of elected officeholders and undermined state power. That antiunion ideology faded in the two decades after 1958 when public employee unionism grew by leaps and bounds, but in recent years it has returned, albeit in a distinctively neoliberal, antistate guise. Conservatives today charge that instead of challenging the power of the state, public sector unionism is illegitimate because these institutions support those governmental functions that regulate commerce, sustain public education, and provide other public goods now under attack from the neoliberal right.

Sociology after Fordism: Prospects and problems

2011 ◽  
Vol 14 (4) ◽  
pp. 537-556 ◽  
Author(s):  
John Holmwood
Keyword(s):  
Political Economy ◽  
Public Sector ◽  
Social Studies ◽  
Private Sector ◽  
Special Interest ◽  
Social Knowledge ◽  
Sociological Knowledge ◽  
The Public ◽  
Critical Knowledge ◽  
New Form

A number of commentators have suggested that the shift from a Fordist to a post-Fordist regime of political economy has had positive consequences for sociology, including the reinforcement of critical sociologies ( Burawoy, 2005 ; Steinmetz, 2005 ). This article argues that, although disciplinary hierarchies have been destabilized, what is emerging is a new form of instrumental knowledge, that of applied interdisciplinary social studies. This development has had a particular impact upon sociology. Savage and Burrows (2007) , for example, argue that sociological knowledge no longer has a privileged claim to authority and is increasingly in competition with social knowledge produced by the private sector and agencies of the public sector. The response of many sociologists to such claims has been to reassert the importance of the discipline as the purveyor of critically relevant knowledge about society. The article traces how the idea of internal critique within sociology has developed to embrace ‘knowing capitalism’ ( Thrift, 2005 ), at the same time as declaring the impossibility of sociological knowledge. The critique of sociology also becomes the critique of critique and what remains is the instrumentalization of knowledge. Where many sociologists continue to claim a special interest in critical knowledge, the article suggests that, in contrast, we potentially confront the problem that such knowledge may itself be facing a crisis of reproduction.

Een nieuw en flexibel personeelsbeleid in de lokale besturen in Vlaanderen ?

Res Publica ◽  
1998 ◽  
Vol 40 (1) ◽  
pp. 79-97
Author(s):  
Trui Steen
Keyword(s):  
Public Sector ◽  
Local Government ◽  
Labour Market ◽  
Personnel Management ◽  
Civil Service ◽  
Management Strategies ◽  
Employment Policy ◽  
The Public ◽  
Public Sector Employment ◽  
Personnel Policies

Personnel management in localgovernment in Flanders bas undergone some major reforms during recent years. We examine the purposes and the extent of these reforms. Also, the new personnel management in Flemish local government is evaluated in terms of flexibility. The Flemish civil service can be considered as an Internal Labour Market. The rigidity which characterises the Internal Labour Market in local government in Flanders is shown by the fact that local government lacks discretion in elaborating the personnel statute, which still constitutes the basis of personnel management. However, the thesis that the public sector employment policy is too rigid has to be nuanced. The civil service is familiar with irregular forms ofemployment. Infact, in Flemish local government only half of all personnel are employed according to a statute.Despite some constraints on the development of more flexible personnel policies, it is still possible to find opportunities which provide hope for the development of new and modern personnel management strategies in local government.

MPA Graduates and the Dilemma of Job Satisfaction: Does Crossing the Sector Line Make a Difference

1991 ◽  
Vol 20 (4) ◽  
pp. 449-455 ◽  
Author(s):  
Barrie E. Blunt ◽  
Kris Anne Spring
Keyword(s):  
Job Satisfaction ◽  
Public Sector ◽  
Private Sector ◽  
Work Satisfaction ◽  
Federal State ◽  
Non Profit ◽  
The Public ◽  
Public Sector Employment ◽  
State Regional

This study examines levels of job satisfaction for MPA graduates employed in the public, private, and non-profit sectors. Findings are based on a survey and indicate that MPA graduates derive greater satisfaction with pay and promotion opportunities in the private sector than in the public or non-profit sectors. No significant differences were noted between the sectors with regard to work satisfaction or satisfaction with supervisor or co-workers. Further, no differences in levels of satisfaction were noted between four categories of public sector employment; federal, state, regional, or local.

scholarly journals The Public Employee Facing Unconstitutional Policies: Organization, State, Power, Stability and Social Control

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Helder Gusso
Keyword(s):  
Public Sector ◽  
Social Control ◽  
Government Policy ◽  
Power Relations ◽  
Control Agency ◽  
Public Employee ◽  
Organizational Analysis ◽  
The Public ◽  
And Control

This article highlights the duty of the public employee to oppose any government policy that goes against constitutional principles and objectives. The defence of this position is made from an organizational analysis of the State. Theoretical contributions such as the understanding of State and Domination in M. Weber, Organization in D. Katz and R.L. Khan, and Control Agency in B.F. Skinner have been used. The analysis of contingencies that control the behavior of the public employee and the understanding of the notions of State and Organizations enable greater clarity about what constitutes the role of workers in the public sector. It also highlights the importance of existing mechanisms to reduce the imbalance in power relations between governors, servants and the population.

The Effect of Public Sector Employment on the Earnings of White and African American Males: A Sample Selectivity Approach

1994 ◽  
Vol 23 (2) ◽  
pp. 113-120
Author(s):  
Michael Greene ◽  
Emily Hoffnar
Keyword(s):  
African American ◽  
Public Sector ◽  
Private Sector ◽  
Labor Force ◽  
Labor Force Participation ◽  
African American Males ◽  
Sample Selection ◽  
The Public ◽  
Public Sector Employment ◽  
White Males

This research note uses a sample selection model to measure the earnings premium (or penalty) to public sector employment. A model correcting for both labor force participation and sectoral choice is estimated for both white and African American males. Results indicate that African American males are no better off in the public than in the private sector. Moreover, white males employed in the public sector earn significantly less than their private sector counterparts.

La prohibición de realizar aportaciones a planes de pensiones de empleo en la Ley de Presupuestos Generales del Estado para el año 2012

2013 ◽  
pp. 53-80
Author(s):  
Mirari ERDAIDE GABIOLA ◽  
Arantza GONZÁLEZ LÓPEZ
Keyword(s):  
Public Sector ◽  
Public Administration ◽  
Basque Country ◽  
Pension Plans ◽  
The State ◽  
Public Employee ◽  
Autonomous Community ◽  
The Public ◽  
Insurance Policies ◽  
Pais Vasco

LABURPENA: Estatuko Aurrekontu Orokorren Legeak sektore publikoko herriadministrazio eta erakunde guztiei debekatu egiten die ekarpenik egitea enpleguko pentsio-planetan edo aseguru kolektiboko kontratuetan, erretiroagatiko estaldura jasotzen badute. Hain zuzen ere, debeku hori aztertzen da lan honetan. Azterketa Enplegatu Publikoaren Oinarrizko Estatutua eta EK-ko 149.1.13. nahiz 156. artikuluen inguruko doktrina konstituzionala oinarri hartuta egituratzen da, eta debeku haren konstituziokontrakotasuna ondorioztatzen du. Adibidez, Euskal Autonomia Erkidegoaren kasuan, debekuak Euskal Herriko Autonomia Estatutuko 10.4 artikulutik ondorioztatzen den berezko eskumen-esparru esklusiboan dauka eragina. RESUMEN: Este trabajo analiza la prohibición que impone la Ley de Presupuestos Generales del Estado a todas las Administraciones Públicas y entidades integrantes del sector público de realizar aportaciones a planes de pensiones de empleo o contratos de seguro colectivos que incluyan la cobertura de la contingencia de jubilación. El análisis se vertebra a partir del Estatuto Básico del Empleado Público y de la doctrina constitucional en torno a los artículos 149.1.13.ª CE y 156 CE, concluyendo en la inconstitucionalidad de aquella prohibición, que en la Comunidad Autónoma de Euskadi incide en el ámbito competencial propio y exclusivo que deriva del artículo 10.4 del Estatuto de Autonomía del País Vasco. ABSTRACT: This work analyzes the prohibition imposed by the State Budget’s Act to every public administration and entity part of the public sector to contribute to pension plans or collective insurance policies that cover the retirement contingency. This analysis has as essential structure the Basic Statute of the Public Employee and the constitutional doctrine regarding articles 149.1.13 and 156 of the Constitution and it concludes with the unconstitutionality of that prohibition which in the Autonomous Community of Euskadi has an impact on the very own and exclusive powers that derive from article 10.4 of the Statute of Autonomy of the Basque Country.

Assessing the Effectiveness of Florida's Impasse Resolution Procedures: A Survey of Public Sector Practitioners

1988 ◽  
Vol 17 (3) ◽  
pp. 253-260 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kenneth M. Jennings ◽  
Steven K. Paulson ◽  
Steven A. Williamson
Keyword(s):  
Public Sector ◽  
Collective Bargaining ◽  
Dispute Resolution ◽  
Public Employees ◽  
Regression Analyses ◽  
Perceived Effectiveness ◽  
Frequency Distributions ◽  
The Public ◽  
The Right ◽  
Impasse Resolution

Public employees in Florida have been permitted by law since 1974 to engage in collective bargaining with their employers. Along with the right to engage in collective bargaining, the law established a dispute resolution process for resolving bargaining impasses in lieu of the strike, which was strictly prohibited. This law also established the Public Employees Relations Commission (PERC), which was created to oversee the process. The present study was designed to evaluate the effectiveness of the present impasse procedure as perceived by the concerned parties. This study was exploratory in nature and designed to provide PERC and thus the Florida Legislature with the documentation required for review of the present law. A total of 1,150 questionnaires were mailed to union representatives and public employers. A 45 percent return rate was achieved. The return was approximately equally divided between the unions and the employers. Frequency distributions of these responses and regression analyses are presented and conclusions are drawn as to the perceived effectiveness of the process.

Identifying and developing desirable soft skills for public service

2020 ◽  
pp. 014473942093155
Author(s):  
Chad Kinsella ◽  
Brandon Waite
Keyword(s):  
Public Sector ◽  
Public Service ◽  
Municipal Government ◽  
Soft Skills ◽  
Academic Program ◽  
High Performing ◽  
The Public ◽  
Graduate Employment ◽  
Public Sector Employment ◽  
Do So

One of the key goals of any academic program is to ensure that skills taught in the classroom apply to post-graduate employment. Failure to do so can impact an academic department’s recruitment and retention efforts, strain relations with alumni and damage the institution’s reputation. Using interviews conducted during a faculty externship at a high-performing municipal government, this paper identifies soft skills employers expect students to have when entering the public-sector workforce, and offers suggestions for how to best prepare students for public-sector employment in light of these findings.

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