ABSTRACT

The Fraternal Order of Police has petitioned the State Labor Relations Board to hold a hearing on the merits of having sergeants on the negotiating team. The Boston police strike of 1919, viewed by many unionists as one of the most important events in American police history, was the cause celebre that gave the nation its first real exposure to labor problems in municipal government. Public employees found the door open and were prepared to seize the opportunity to solve their problems through constructive conflict. Labor and management have a mutual obligation to meet at reasonable times and to confer in good faith with respect to wages, hours, and other terms and conditions of employment. Unionism and collective bargaining by police officers represent what Samuel Walker has referred to as “the hidden revolution” in contemporary police administration. Management rights refer to decisions that govern the conditions of employment over which management claims to have exclusive jurisdiction.