PUBLIC EMPLOYEE BARGAINING UNDER PROHIBITIVE LEGISLATION: SOME UNANTICIPATED CONSEQUENCES

ROGER G. BROWN AND TERREL L. RHODES


DOI: 10.2190/F4D6-EXB8-TYGF-CQ8D

Abstract

State statutes prohibiting public employee collective bargaining are intended to prevent manager-employee conflict over salaries and working conditions. However, the absence of formalized dispute resolution processes has not ended conflict, nor has it removed the occurrence of negotiations in public agencies. This study reviews the effects of North Carolina's statutory ban on collective bargaining, the most restrictive public employee bargaining law in the nation. It also examines the processes and procedures that have evolved to handle conflict and negotiations between public managers and employees. Several unanticipated consequences are described, including a tendency toward the privatization of conflict and a lack of protection for the rights of women and minority employees.

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