This collection of 12 papers examines various aspects of public employee collective bargaining and unionization. Public employee unions in the United States have caused growing concern since the mid-1960s when wages in the public sector began to rise more rapidly than those of private employees. Public employee strikes became significant for the first time in 1966, and tension has continued to mount, particularly in the older industrial cities. The authors of the papers in this volume examine the role of public sector unions in political, economic, and social life and discuss those facts, issues, and strategies that may lead to a cooperative understanding of the crisis. Contributors include union leaders (George Meany, for example), elected city officials, lawyers and economists involved in the analysis of labor relations, and scholars familiar with the background and philosophy of this subject (including Seymour Martin Lipset). Several of the articles touch on the role played by public employee unions in New York City's financial crisis. (Author/DS)