This research examines the controversial issue of the right to strike by public employees. A brief history leading up to the current status of public employee labor law will be offered, followed by a discussion of the arguments for and against granting public employees such union rights.
Prior to World War II, public employees often enjoyed better benefits and salaries than private employees. The balance shifted in favor of the private sector after unions successfully procured increased benefits and wages for private employees. Collective bargaining was instrumental in improving conditions for private unionized employees.
Even though the first public employee unions were organized as early as the 1830s, it was not until the 1950s that public unionization became a significant movement. Between 1958 and 1966 union membership in the public sector doubled. Public employee unions continued to grow in the 1970s and 1980s.
In early American labor law, coordinated activity by any group of employees, public or private, to force an employer into submitting to employee demands was considered criminal behavior and could subject the employees to severe financial punishments. Gradually, the federal government adopted limited protections for employees, but it was not until congressional approval of the National Labor Relations Act of 1935 that employees--specifically, private employees--were given the right to strike without fear of criminal reprisals. The act granted private employees the right to collective bargaining as well as the right to strike.
Public employees were specifically excluded from these rights, including the right to strike. Section 2 of the National Labor Relations Act reads in part: "'employer [subject to the provisions of this act] . . . shall not include the United States or any state or political subdivision thereof. . . ." These exclusions of public sector employees reveal a sharp distinction between the ...