The chapters in this anthology deal with many of these all-encompassing constraints and how the various participants seek to deal with them. Model agreements, negotiating levers, the balance of power between managers and government employees, contracting-out versus producing in-house, the impact of bargaining unit structure on productivity, the relationship of municipal budget making to collective bargaining, public employee union growth and organizing trends, and many other topics are dealt with in this volume. These issues are discussed in the context of several specific types of public employees such as: municipal protection employees, mass transit workers, health professionals in relation to government service, and, the armed forces and civilian federal employees.

The rapid conversion of land to urban and suburban areas has profoundly altered how water flows during and following storm events, putting higher volumes of water and more pollutants into the nation's rivers, lakes, and estuaries. These changes have degraded water quality and habitat in virtually every urban stream system. The Clean Water Act regulatory framework for addressing sewage and industrial wastes is not well suited to the more difficult problem of stormwater discharges. This book calls for an entirely new permitting structure that would put authority and accountability for stormwater discharges at the municipal level. A number of additional actions, such as conserving natural areas, reducing hard surface cover (e.g., roads and parking lots), and retrofitting urban areas with features that hold and treat stormwater, are recommended.