Recent events have drawn attention to the tennous status of public sector unions. These include the 2011 protests in Madison Wisconsin and the 2016 Freidrichs v. Calfornia Teachers’ Associationcase at the US Supreme Court. Because the only federal laws on public sector employees union and collective bargaining rights cover federal employees, public sector workers’ union rights vary radically depending on their location. By union organizing rights, I refer to three basic collective rights for workers: the right to union and form trade unions, the right to engage in collective bargaining, and the right to engage in collective actions, including strikes, to protect their interests. In states such as Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Alabama, and Mississippi, whole categories of public sector employees at the state and local employees are either explicitly forbidden or lack any laws regarding their collective bargaining rights. The right to strike is far more...
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Kang, S. (2017). Public Sector Employment and International Labor Rights: The International Labor Organization on Public Sector Workers. In: Farazmand, A. (eds) Global Encyclopedia of Public Administration, Public Policy, and Governance. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-31816-5_2769-1
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