Most of the differences between private and public sector bargaining are advantages for the public sector. (Author/IRT)

To compensate for the inherent advantages of public employment, public employees should have representational rights that are different from, and significantly less than, private sector bargaining rights. (Author/IRT)

Bargaining is a political as well as an economic process and comparisons between districts are the keys to the politics of bargaining. (Author/IRT)

A discussion is presented on the feasibility of developing and encouraging more profit-making private schools. The point is made that there are structural obstacles to improvement and reform in the public schools: (1) teacher unions are strong and primarily interested in teacher benefits, not student welfare; (2) state and federal regulation…

Teacher collective bargaining is expected to have negative consequences for educational reform measures such as merit pay because the union's function is to advance the compensation and benefits of its constituency. The author maintains that the public sector union is a de facto political party formed to influence public policy. (MLF)

Federal collective bargaining legislation for public employees could create confrontations between federal government and state-local governments. Political promises can be foiled by bargaining outcomes, therefore states with bargaining rights should be exempted from the federal law. Equity between public and private employees is another problem…