ABSTRACT
A dramatic change is occurring as municipalities, counties, states, and the federal government face up to the fact that their own employees are demanding the right to join unions and to engage in collective bargaining. Only a quarter of American public employees presently are represented by unions. But the growth of the unions representing such workers has been spectacular, far outstripping the membership gains of labor organizations in the private sector. A variety of devices have been utilized to prohibit, or strongly discourage, strikes by public employees. The right to strike has been prohibited in the public sector by statute and by court decision. The emphasis upon unionization and collective bargaining has been reducing public employees’ reliance upon the Civil Service system and upon political pressure to obtain employment relief. In the private sector, grievance arbitration has been almost uniformly accepted as the method of choice for resolving the parties’ disputes during the terms of collective bargaining contracts.
