State Civil Service and Collective Bargaining: Systems in Conflict

Abstract

Whuat has been the impact of the emergence ofpublicsector labor relation on the legal structure and design of state civil service merit systems? Joel Douglas offers a systematic exploration of that issue through a content analysis of state laws related to both systems. His detailed analysis suggests the development of personnel systems (DPS) in many jurisdictions, and the lack of efforts to integrate the two contradictory systems. In most cases, labor relation have become the primary force in public-sector human resource management policies; but Douglas notes that civil service remain a factor often times generating problems. He concludes by noting that the two do not 'fit together. Living with dual personnel systems, he argues, is an option widelyfollowed yet not recommended. The Nature of the Conflict