Summarizing the critical changes affecting labor relations in the global marketplace, this comprehensive text outlines problems and provides strategies for success in the dynamically evolving work environment. Blending description, analysis, and empirical research into a thorough overview of the field, the authors discuss court decisions and collective bargaining and labor relations at all levels of government. In addition to a compendium of research resources, this classroom-friendly edition includes more new case studies illustrating key examples. The third edition retains the successful features of previous editions and combines expertise from both academic and professional perspectives.

That we are participants in a global economy may no longer be news, but its impact continues to shape the field of labor relations. This is certainly true in the public sector where union membership is stagnant and outsourcing is becoming more and more prevalent. Further impacting current trends are local and state movements to restructure public organizations and the processes they use to conduct their activities and provide services. These include the mechanisms of collective bargaining and contract administration. Reflecting these and many other trends and changes, this fourth edition of the perennially bestselling Labor Relations in the Public Sector is now completely updated. The fundamental reader-friendly organization of the book remains the same, and it continues to address the many facets that must be considered today, as unions still represent 40 percent of public sector workers. However in keeping up with the formative events of recent times, this text— Accounts for emerging trends in scholarly and professional literature as well as in practice Features several new case studies that provide readers with experiential learning opportunities across a range of contemporary situations Places greater emphasis on ways to develop and use interest-based ("win–win") negotiations during bargaining processes and throughout the administration of contracts This volume recognizes the key role played by unions in the federal government and in a large proportion of state and local jurisdictions, but it also recognizes that much is changing. Fiscal realities and strategic challenges are changing the role of the labor union in the public sector. This is a trend that must be understood if its consequences are to be anticipated and met for the mutual good.

In the 1980s, public sector unionism has become the most vibrant component of the American labor movement. What does this new "look" of organized labor mean for the economy? Do labor-management relations in the public sector mirror patterns in the private, or do they introduce a novel paradigm onto the labor scene? What can the private sector learn from the success of collective bargaining in the public? Contributors to When Public Sector Workers Unionize—which was developed from the NBER's program on labor studies—examine these and other questions using newly collected data on public sector labor laws, labor relations practices of state and local governments, and labor market outcomes. Topics considered include the role, effect, and evolution of public sector labor law and the effects that public sector bargaining has on both wage and nonwage issues. Several themes emerge from the studies in this volume. Most important, public sector labor law has a strong and pervasive effect on bargaining and on wage and employment outcomes in public sector labor markets. Also, public sector unionism affects the economy in ways that are different from, and in many cases opposite to, the ways private sector unionism does, appearing to stimulate rather than reduce employment, reducing rather than increasing layoff rates, and developing innovate ways to settle labor disputes such as compulsory interest arbitration instead of strikes and lockouts found in the private sector.

Examines the transformation of the employment relationship in governmental agencies, with particular emphasis on human resources policies and workplace practices.

One of the best-known and most-quoted books ever written on labor unions is What Do Unions Do? by Richard Freeman and James Medoff. Published in 1984, the book proved to be a landmark because it provided the most comprehensive and statistically sophisticated empirical portrait of the economic and socio-political effects of unions, and a provocative conclusion that unions are on balance beneficial for the economy and society.The present volume represents a twentieth-anniversary retrospective and evaluation of What Do Unions Do? The objectives are threefold: to evaluate and critique the theory, evidence, and conclusions of Freeman and Medoff; to provide a comprehensive update of the theoretical and empirical literature on unions since the publication of their book; and to offer a balanced assessment and critique of the effects of unions on the economy and society. Toward this end, internationally recognized representatives of labor and management cover the gamut of subjects related to unions.Topics covered include the economic theory of unions; the history of economic thought on unions; the effect of unions on wages, benefits, capital investment, productivity, income inequality, dispute resolution, and job satisfaction; the performance of unions in an international perspective; the reasons for the decline of unions; and the future of unions. The volume concludes with a chapter by Richard Freeman in which he assesses the arguments and evidence presented in the other chapters and presents his evaluation of how What Do Unions Do? stands up in the light of twenty years of additional experience and research. This highly readable volume is a state-of-the-art survey by internationally recognized experts on the effects and future of labor unions. It will be the benchmark for years to come.