2003 Going Public: The Role of Labor-Management Relations in Delivering Quality Government Services

Abstract

In the last 15 years, significant forces have affected public sector labor-management relations in the United States. The primary forces have pressed for increased efficiency and improved services—in terms of both quality and delivery. Other forces, however, have pressed for a smaller government presence and for privatization of many government responsibilities. Similar forces have affected other industrialized countries.Lorenzo Bordogna examines this comparison with regard to non-U.S. industrialized countries in the first chapter of this volume, noting that most other industrialized countries started out with a larger public sector and more state-run enterprises, greater union density, more-pervasive use of participative models, and broader labor rights. He describes efforts in many of those countries to reduce the influence and independence of collective bargaining, often by shifting wage-setting authority to the employer or by increasing the role of centralized settlements. His basic conclusion is that pressures on governments are becoming similar to pressures in the private sector: to provide better services, reduce employment, improve applications of information technology, and “privatize” or subcontract work.