scholarly journals The Politics of Austerity and the Conservative Offensive against US Public Sector Unions, 2008-2012

2012 ◽  
Vol 67 (4) ◽  
pp. 612-632 ◽  
Author(s):  
Étienne Cantin
Keyword(s):  
Public Sector ◽  
Collective Bargaining ◽  
Great Recession ◽  
Public Employees ◽  
Conservative Movement ◽  
The Great Recession ◽  
Public Sector Unions ◽  
Economic Developments ◽  
Government Workers ◽  
Political Economic

SummarySince the onset of the Great Recession, anti-union conservatives have been hammering out an arguably bogus yet politically potent argument: collective bargaining with government workers is unaffordable as their wages, health benefits, and pensions are driving states into deficits. Whilst evidence does not support the politically motivated attacks on public sector workers and their unions, a confluence of political-economic factors has been abetting efforts to scapegoat public employees and their unions.The first section of this essay places the 2011 wave of anti-public-sector-collective-bargaining statutes in its broad political and economic context. Whilst resulting from a longstanding hostility of the USA’s conservative movement to unionism and collective bargaining, recent anti-public-sector-collective-bargaining statutes are also the outcome of three political-economic developments galvanising anti-union GOPers—first, the fact that most US union members are now government workers, which makes it easier for anti-unionists to characterize them as a “privileged” elite; second, the Great Recession and ensuing deficit crisis; and third, the rousing of the conservative movement that led to the 2010 electoral “shellacking” of the Democrats. The second section focuses specifically on Wisconsin and argues that what is going on there ought to be seen for what it is: an attempt to exploit the economic crisis to win an eminently political victory over organised labour and allied Democrats.

scholarly journals Spontaneity, Coalition Structure, and Strategic Choice

2020 ◽  
Vol 63 (5) ◽  
pp. 851-869
Author(s):  
Amanda Pullum
Keyword(s):  
Public Sector ◽  
Great Recession ◽  
Organizational Structures ◽  
Coalition Structure ◽  
Sufficient Time ◽  
Strategic Choices ◽  
The Public ◽  
The Great Recession ◽  
Political Tactics ◽  
Public Sector Unions

Following the Great Recession, austerity programs and restrictions on the public sector were introduced worldwide. In this article, I ask how and why labor coalitions in two states used differing organizational structures to respond to “shock politics” that severely restricted public-sector unions in 2011. I find the availability or lack of a citizen-initiated veto referendum shaped but did not completely explain differences in strategic choices between unions in Wisconsin and Ohio. Rather, tensions among allies and lack of time for strategic planning also contributed to a nonhierarchical coalition in Wisconsin, while Ohio unions had ample time to create a bureaucratic coalition and plan a successful veto referendum campaign. I argue that given sufficient time to respond to political threats, hierarchical organizations can promote efficient, effective deployment of some political tactics.

scholarly journals The ‘Great Recession,’ the Employers’ Offensive and Canadian Public Sector Unions

2011 ◽  
Vol 7 (1 / 2) ◽  
Author(s):  
David Camfield
Keyword(s):  
Public Sector ◽  
Great Recession ◽  
Context Change ◽  
Promising Direction ◽  
Social Movement Unionism ◽  
The Great Recession ◽  
Municipal Workers ◽  
Public Sector Unions ◽  
Il Y A ◽  
Union Renewal

The global economic crisis and its effects have changed the context for public sector unions in Canada. There is evidence that an intensified offensive against public sector unions is beginning. Few public sector unions are prepared to respond adequately to such an offensive, as the important 2009 strike by Toronto municipal workers illustrates. In this more difficult context, change within public sector unions is increasingly urgent. The most promising direction for union renewal lies in the praxis of social movement unionism. However, there are very few signs of moves to promote this approach within Canadian public sector unions. La crise économique globale et ses effets ont changé le contexte pour les syndicats du secteur public au Canada. Il y a des signes qu’une attaque violente contre les syndicats du secteur public a commencé. Peu de syndicats du secteur public sont prêts à répondre dans une manière satisfaisante à cette attaque, comme le montre la grève importante des travailleurs municipaux à Toronto en 2009. Dans ce contexte plus difficile, des changements au sein des syndicats du secteur public sont de plus en plus urgents. La direction la plus prometteuse pour une renaissance syndicale est la pratique d’un syndicalisme de mouvement social. Toutefois, il y a très peu d’indices que les syndicats du secteur public au Canada s’inscrivent dans une telle approche.

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.

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.

scholarly journals An Exploration into Challenges Facing Public Sector Labor Relations: A Literature Review and Analysis

2014 ◽  
Vol 3 (4) ◽  
pp. 1 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael Chambers
Keyword(s):  
Public Sector ◽  
Literature Review ◽  
Collective Bargaining ◽  
Private Sector ◽  
Scientific Literature ◽  
Labor Relations ◽  
Labor Management ◽  
Public Managers ◽  
Public Sector Unions ◽  
Union History

This analysis explores some of the challenges facing public managers in nurturing their relationship and partnership with public-sector unions. It begins with a discussion of the background that elaborates on union history, discussing the birth of unions, the fall of private-sector unions, and the rise of government unions.  This is followed by a review of the relevant professional and scientific literature to better develop the topic and focus the analysis.  As the field of government labor-management relations is complex, the unique characteristics of government labor-management relationships that are lacking in the private-sector context necessitate a practitioner approach and an integrated synthesis of the literature. The analysis concludes that when collective bargaining is applied to public-sector business, it must be tailored to achieve proper alignment with taxpayers, who are the major stakeholders in public-sector services.

scholarly journals The Role of Public-Sector Unions During Privatization

2010 ◽  
Vol 25 (3) ◽  
pp. 23-45
Author(s):  
Kim Jung In
Keyword(s):  
Public Sector ◽  
Public Employees ◽  
Labor Management ◽  
Public And Private ◽  
The Public ◽  
Public Sector Unions ◽  
Key Factor ◽  
Public Unions ◽  
Public And Private Sector

This paper reviews the historical and institutional backgrounds of public- and private-sector unions, internal and external trends involving public-sector unions, union representation in the public sector, union affiliation with citizens, and the relationship between privatization and public unions. Using these characteristics to reflect on the fundamental rationale of public-sector unions as the negotiators for public employees and as the promoters of political affiliation with citizens, the nature of the labor-management relationship emerges as a key factor in determining the effectiveness of unions in these roles.

The trade-off between pension costs and salary expenditures in the public sector

2020 ◽  
Vol 20 (1) ◽  
pp. 151-168
Author(s):  
Dongwoo Kim ◽  
Cory Koedel ◽  
P. Brett Xiang
Keyword(s):  
Public Sector ◽  
Great Recession ◽  
Pension Plans ◽  
Teacher Salary ◽  
The Public ◽  
The Great Recession ◽  
Pension Costs ◽  
Crowd Out ◽  
Pension Contribution ◽  
Effect Heterogeneity

AbstractWe examine pension-cost crowd out of salary expenditures in the public sector using a 15-year data panel of state teacher pension plans spanning the Great Recession. While there is no evidence of salary crowd out prior to the Great Recession, there is a shift in the post-recession years such that a 1% (of salaries) increase in the annual required pension contribution corresponds to a decrease in total teacher salary expenditures of 0.24%. The effect operates through changes to the size of the teaching workforce, not changes to teacher wages. An explanation for the effect heterogeneity pre- and post-recession is that public employers are less able to shield the workforce from pension costs during times of fiscal stress. This problem is exacerbated because unlike other benefit costs, such as for health care, pension costs are countercyclical.

Labor's Enduring Divide: The Distinct Path of Public Sector Unions in the United States

2014 ◽  
Vol 28 (2) ◽  
pp. 175-200 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alexis N. Walker
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Public Sector ◽  
Collective Bargaining ◽  
Private Sector ◽  
Labor Law ◽  
Union Density ◽  
The United States ◽  
Private Sector Union ◽  
Public Sector Employees ◽  
Public Sector Unions

Why did public sector unionization rise so dramatically and then plateau at the same time as private sector unionization underwent a precipitous decline? The exclusion of public sector employees from the centerpiece of private sector labor law—the 1935 Wagner Act—divided U.S. labor law and relegated public sector demand-making to the states. Consequently, public sector employees' collective bargaining rights were slow to develop and remain geographically concentrated, unequal and vulnerable. Further, divided labor law put the two movements out of alignment; private sector union density peaked nearly a decade before the first major statutes granting public sector collective bargaining rights passed. As a result of this incongruent timing and sequencing, the United States has never had a strong union movement comprised of both sectors at the height of their membership and influence.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document