Public Sector Unions Need the Private Sector or Why the Wisconsin Protests Were Not Labor's Lazarus Moment
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John Ahlquist
I argue that the extension of collective bargaining rights and formation of public sector labor unions requires the prior existence of these rights among significant sections of the private sector economy. The secular decline in private sector unionization will undermine the political bases of support for public sector unions. I demonstrate that public sector unionism emerged where private sector unions were initially strong. Declining private sector unionism has led to a marked decrease in support for public sector unions. The diminution of their allies in the private sector and the prospect of extended periods of austerity at the state and local level have put public sector unions in a precarious position that Republican governors and legislatures are taking full advantage of. The prospects for renewal in the labor movement are dim.
©2012 Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co. KG, Berlin/Boston
Articles in the same Issue
- Introduction
- Special Issue: Labor in American Politics
- Article
- A Brief Ascendency: American Labor After 1945
- The Most Powerful Political Force in the Country
- Do Unions Still Matter in U.S. Elections? Assessing Labor's Political Power and Significance
- Teachers Unions and American Education Reform: The Politics of Blocking
- The Education Iron Triangle
- Solidarities and Restrictions: Labor and Immigration Policy in the United States
- Public Sector Unions Need the Private Sector or Why the Wisconsin Protests Were Not Labor's Lazarus Moment
- The Return of Judicial Repression: What Has Happened to the Strike?
- "Broken Windows," Vulnerable Workers, and the Future of Worker Representation
- American Unions in Comparative Perspective
- Commentary
- Political Science as a Vocation: An Appreciation of the Life and the Work of James Q. Wilson
- Review
- Weakness and Wisdom: A Review of In My Time and Known and Unknown
- The Trouble With Teachers Unions: Review of Special Interest
Articles in the same Issue
- Introduction
- Special Issue: Labor in American Politics
- Article
- A Brief Ascendency: American Labor After 1945
- The Most Powerful Political Force in the Country
- Do Unions Still Matter in U.S. Elections? Assessing Labor's Political Power and Significance
- Teachers Unions and American Education Reform: The Politics of Blocking
- The Education Iron Triangle
- Solidarities and Restrictions: Labor and Immigration Policy in the United States
- Public Sector Unions Need the Private Sector or Why the Wisconsin Protests Were Not Labor's Lazarus Moment
- The Return of Judicial Repression: What Has Happened to the Strike?
- "Broken Windows," Vulnerable Workers, and the Future of Worker Representation
- American Unions in Comparative Perspective
- Commentary
- Political Science as a Vocation: An Appreciation of the Life and the Work of James Q. Wilson
- Review
- Weakness and Wisdom: A Review of In My Time and Known and Unknown
- The Trouble With Teachers Unions: Review of Special Interest
