Overview and Objectives

Overview

This lesson will (1) examine the historical development of the public sector labor relations system in the United States. However, to understand how and why this system evolved as it has, it is necessary to understand two important factors that shaped this system: private sector labor relations and public (i.e., government) policy toward collective bargaining. In addition, this lesson will also consider recent social, political, and strategic factors which have greatly influenced private sector and public sector unionism.  It will also (2) present an overview of contemporary public sector unions. Public sector unionism will be compared and contrasted with unionism in the private sector. The most prominent forms of public sector labor organizations—including associations, function-specific unions, and general-purpose unions—will be defined and described. Finally, short-term prospects for growth or decline of public sector employee unions will be briefly discussed.

Instructional Objectives

At the end of this lesson, you should be able to:

• Summarize briefly the history of private and public sector collective bargaining in the United States.
• Describe the major factors that have lead to the decline of unionism in the private sector.
• Describe three principal historic differences between collective bargaining in the public and the private sectors.
• Identify the statute that regulates collective bargaining in the federal government.
• Define and describe associations, general-purpose unions, and function-specific unions.
• Discuss union density levels in the private and public sector.
• Describe the principal challenges facing unions today in the public sector.

Activities

Reading Assignment: Chapters 1 and 2 in the text.

Written Assignment (Due Sunday evening by 11:50 P.M.): 

In this assignment I would like to learn more about your views on unions, in general, as well as your personal experience with unions.  Develop an essay that reveals your thoughts about unions, in general, and your thoughts about union membership.  I expect that your essay will deal with the following points:

• Are your beliefs more closely aligned with an HR perspective, management’s perspective or a union perspective.  Explain how you developed this perspective.
• What personal experiences have you had with a union?
• Are you currently a union member?  If so, which one?

Please create your assignment in Microsoft Word and save the file to your computer before you use the form below to upload your assignment.

Quiz: Due by Sunday evening at 11:50 P.M.