Since the 1960s, the number of strikes by public employees, especially local government employees, has increased, and the number of employees belonging to unions or associations has about tripled. Recently, attention has been focused on strikes by public employees as a result of the strike in 1981 by air traffic controllers and their subsequent firing by President Reagan. The authors of this publication analyze the issues in the continuing debate over the right of public employees to strike. They discuss in detail the laws in the eight states that grant limited rights to some categories of their public employees: Montana, Hawaii, Pennsylvania, Alaska, Vermont, Minnesota, Oregon, and Wisconsin. They also review the court actions that have created "de facto" rights in other states and examine the "choice-of-procedures" alternative with which Canada has had the most experience. The report includes a summary of the various provisions for coverage, impasse and strike procedures contained in the statutes of the eight states, and the judicial actions discussed in the report. The bibliography contains references to the literature and complete citations for locating applicable provisions in the statutes. (KC)