Public Sector Unionization

The article discusses the decline of unions in the private sector and the rise of unions in the public sector. The decline in unions for the private sector is due, in part, to the loss of industrial and manufacturing jobs and to the successful work of HR professionals in improving employee relations.  In addition, laws and regulations are in place now to protect workers and taking the place of traditional union protections.

Public sector unions are increasing for a variety of reasons.  Some of these reasons include the emergence of laws protecting the public sector. In the 1950’s, on a few public sector employees were organized.  States did not permit public sector collective bargaining, public sector strikes nor were public sector employees allowed to organize.

Another reason for the growth of public sector unions is the ability to influence employers through the political process. The article cites an example of the approval of billions of dollars of pension benefits for government workers after lobbying and campaign contributions from politically connected unions.

Public sector unions, in particular, at the state/local levels, seem to organize like craft unions rather than the traditional industrial union model in the private sector. Unions of teachers, public safety officers, firefighters, sanitation workers, transit workers have grown as these areas of public sector services have grown.

Why is this important to us?  We should be concerned about the continuing growth in public sector employment and unionization, about the rising costs associated with the public sector workforce, and the expectations for quality and cost effective services.

The article poses the following, “A question that needs to be answered in the labor/management debate is whether treating employees as costs to be minimized would lead to lower service quality and productivity, or whether building a positive workplace culture and encouraging employee participation in problem solving might lead to higher service quality and improvements in productivity.”

The article goes on to suggest the following three recommendations for improving employee/employer relations. 1) Adopt a Human Resource Management Perspective, 2) Introduction performance based evaluation and compensation and, 3) Negotiate a psychological contract.

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