Question

will you help me with this case?

Hard Economic Times The recession that began in late 2007, which was pre- dicted by economists in both the private and public sectors to ease only slowly beginning in 2010, had (and continues to have at the time of this writing) significant impact on public sector collective bargaining. Forty-seven states reported fiscal deficits for 2009. More than 10 states reported severe deficits requiring reductions in state employees both in numbers of employees and enumeration of employees. Thousands of cities and counties in many states also suffered substantial losses of revenue and were forced to reduce the number of employees, subcon- tract work performed by employees, and reduce wages and benefits Where the employees of the states and political subdivisions were covered by labor agreements providing for specific wage rates and benefits (including retirement), negotiations were necessary before changes could be made. Often the negotiations and the basis for the nego- tiations became headlines in local papers and in some cases national news. The headlines in many states concen trated on the level of wage rates, the size and magnitude of fringe benefits, and the amount of and the ease for eligibil- ity of pensions for public employees--particularly in California and New York. This information created signifi- cant public anger when coupled with the information also provided as to the size and scope of the unfunded liabilities for public employee pensions in many states. Generally the 2007-2009 recession prompted the public to more closely focus on labor costs in both the public and private sectors. The public concern with the labor and benefit costs in the traditional U.S. automo- bile companies, for example, forced the federal govern ment to demand a lowering of these costs as a condition for public assistance to those prevailing among the foreign companies operating in the United States as non-union entities. Similar public demands have appeared in the public sector as states and cities asked their employees for reductions in wage rates and benefits when they began to be publicly discussed. In substance, the severe reces- sion that began in late 2007 has had and will continue to have a lengthy and significant impact on collective bargaining in the U.S. economy. This is particularly so in the public sector where, for many years, the employees- unionized and nonunionized-have enjoyed sizeable gains in wages and benefits without general public knowledge and concern. The relative bargaining power of the employers and the unions has definitively changed based on the increased public awareness of the labor costs and the basis for these costs. The collective bargaining results during 2009 amply demonstrated that fact-whether the results were derived from the bargaining table or through awards by arbitrators. Will the economic hardships facing states and their political subdivisions encourage greater use of labor- management committees to develop replies to public concerns about employee costs? Will the increased public concern about public employee enumeration, particularly benefit costs that are perceived to be overly generous, continue to increase pubic employer bargaining power? Will and/or can the public employee unions convince their members to lower their expectations about future wage rates and benefit increases? Will the propensity of public employers to subcontract work to the private sector continue as a source of lowering employee costs?

Answer 1

1. Economic hardships will facilitate better coordination and labor management commiftee formation to create collective Bargaining agreements and ensure wage rate is commensurated and labor laws are relaxed and well suited for both players to averse uncertainty and economic losses.
2. Public employer bargaining power will enormously increase as recession will be used as means to lower wages and provide employment only based in financial helath and consequently firms becomes choosy and demand for new workers lessens creating higher unemployment and at same time to facilitate business growth firms have higher power to paylower wages.
3. Public employees unions will effectively consult and negotiate and cinvince workers to lower wage rate to preserve jobs and employment and showcase severity of recession ajd negative implications of unemployment in economy as well as the society.
4. Lowering employees costs will now see subcontract workers from private players to work enormously and drive efficiency and effectiveness at standard wages much higher than what public employees deliver. Subcontracting jobs lower opportunities costand administration and hiring costs and also bring maximum value and fungibility to table. Hence this phenomenon will be seen.