Public Labor Relations Research Articles

Collective Bargaining during Times of Crisis: Recommendations from the COVID-19 Pandemic.

The COVID‐19 pandemic dramatically changed employment across sectors in 2020. This Viewpoint essay examines public sector labor relations during the pandemic and describes the impact bargaining process that is used to protect public employees. The authors draw on their own experience with impact bargaining negotiations and the public labor relations, conflict management, and civil service reform literatures to develop recommendations for public union labor leaders during times of crisis. They suggest that public unions have an important role in crisis management but must act strategically to develop good working relationships with leadership and successfully negotiate employee protections in uncertain times.

Microelectronics-Based Automation and the Future of Public Labor Relations

Microelectronics-Based Automation and the Future of Public Labor Relations

Public Sector Labor Relations in the States and Municipalities: The Impact of Union Legislative Environment

The past decade of public sector labor relations has been one of limited growth. A major variable affecting the course of this growth has been the legal environment within which the public sector labor movement has operated. Focusing on the statistical patterns of the fifty states and their municipal governments, this study examines the impact of the legal environment, or the union legislative environment, on the development of labor relations in the public sector. The statistical analysis of the data suggests that while a positive union legislative environment is associated with public sector union membership growth, the relationship between the legal environment and the climate of labor relations—measured in terms of work stoppages, their number, duration and size—is a relatively weak one. Those states that have progressive labor relations laws do not seem to have experienced inordinate labor strife. The 1980s appears, however, to hold little hope for the growth of the public sector labor movement. Demographic changes, coupled with a decline in demand for certain public services, is likely to curtail the growth of state and local government employment. This will adversely affect the market for union and association membership among public employees, and will also probably contribute to a diminuition in legislative activity in the public labor relations area.

Book Notes

Martin Katzman, Cities and Frontiers in BrazilPhilip Musgrove, Consumer Behavior in Latin America (An ECIEL Study)William R. Cline and Enrique Delgado, eds., Economic Integration in Central AmericaWayne A. Cornelius and Robert V. Kemper, eds., Metropolitan Latin America: The Challenge and the ResponseJames M. Malloy, ed., Authoritarianism and Corporatism in Latin AmericaMerilee S. Grindle, Bureaucrats, Politicians, and Peasants in Mexico: A Case Study in Public PolicyCOURTS, CRIME, AND LAW Richard Lehne, The Quest for Justice: The Politics of School Finance ReformRay C. Jeffrey, Crime Prevention through Environmental DesignLinda Medcalf, Law and Identity: Lawyers. Native Americans and Legal PracticeBenno C. Schmidt, Jr., Freedom of the Press vs. Public AccessLawrence A. Gooberman, Operation Intercept: The Multiple Consequences of Public PolicyMilton Heumann, Plea Bargaining: The Experiences of Prosecutors, Judges and Defense Attorneysenneth C. Laudon, Communications Technology and Democratic ParticipationRaymond Bowers, Alfred M. Lee, and Cary Hershey, eds., Communications for a Mobile Society: An Assessment of New TechnologyRoy Bahl, ed., The Fiscal Outlook for Cities: Implications of a National Urban PolicyMark Gottdiener, Planned Sprawl: Private and Public Interests in SuburbiaAnthony James Catanese and W. Paul Farmer, eds., Personality, Politics and Planning: How City Planners WorkRobert L. Lineberry, Equality and Urban Policy: The Distribution of Municipal Public ServicesJohn J. Harrigan and William C. Johnson, Governing the Twin Cities Region, The Metropolitan Council in Comparative PerspectiveD. S. Chauhan, Public Labor Relations: A Comparative State StudyA. Lawrence Chickering, ed., Public Employee Unions: A Study of the Crisis in Public Sector Labor RelationsMartin Binkin and Shirley J. Bach, Women and the MilitaryMartin Binkin, with Herschel Ranter and Rolf H. Clark, Shaping the Defense Civilian Work Force: Economics, Politics, and National SecurityRichard K. 3etts, Soldiers. Statesmen, and Cold War CrisesSelig Harrison, China. Oil, and Asia; Conflict Ahead?J. T. Pempel, ed., Policymakinq in Contemporary JapanFred H. Sanderson, Japan's Food Prospects and PoliciesA. Doak Barnett, China and the Major Powers in East AsiaStockholm International Peace Research Institute, Tactical Nuclear Weapons: European PerspectivesThomas H. Etzold and John Lewis Gaddis, eds., Containments: Documents on American Policy and Strategy, 1945‐1950William O. McCagg, Jr., Stalin Embattled. 1943‐1948Barry B. Hughes, The Domestic context of American Foreign Policy

Alternatives to the Strike in Public Labor Relations

Alternatives to the Strike in Public Labor Relations