AN ANALYSIS OF PERMISSIBLE STRIKE AUTHORIZATION AMONG PUBLIC WORKERS

ROBERT D. PURSLEY

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DOI: 10.2190/958E-5RAL-9NVV-6DHN

Abstract

Opposition to permissible strike authorization for public workers has always been widespread. Perhaps, this is even more characteristic of public and legislative sentiment today than at anytime since the rapid growth of government unionization during the last two decades. Yet making strikes illegal in the public sector has not prevented them. Ten states have enacted legislation permitting strike activity among their public workers. Overall, the evidence is mixed as to whether such states have incurred increased strike activity since the adoption of the permissible legislation. One of the problems of such analysis, however, is to try to infer causality from the adoption of such legislation. Most research efforts refute the idea that such permissible legislation has itself caused increased strike activity. However, an analysis of the strike authorization in these ten states indicates how truly "limited" such strike rights really are in many instances. Under the circumstances, this factor more than anything else explains why some of these states claim no increase in strike incidence since the adoption of the legislation.

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