Public Sector Employment in a Time of Transition (Lera Research Volume)

The public sector seems to be in the early stages of a profound transition, similar in scale to the transformation of private sector industrial relations in the 1970s and 1980s. This volume analyzes elements in what is variously described as reinventing government, re-engineering the public sector, and instituting performance-based government.The contributors suggest the new system will be shaped by two main strategies now being followed. One emphasizes improving the efficiency of government through innovative practices and a movement away from the bureaucratic, civil service model. The other stresses cost cutting as an end in itself. While the first strategy offers improved services and a more involved workforce, the implicit goals of the second are often service reduction, downsizing government, privatization of service provision, and reductions in real compensation. This volume deals with the full scope of public employment relations, including issues of labor adjustment, workplace practices and human resource management policies, as well as alternative dispute resolution procedures and labor-management cooperation in the collective bargaining arena.