REINVENTING A LIVELIHOOD - HOW UNITED-STATES LABOR LAWS, LABOR-MANAGEMENT COOPERATION INITIATIVES, AND PRIVATIZATION INFLUENCE PUBLIC-SECTOR LABOR-MARKETS

As public pressure for more cost-effective government services has inc reased federal, state, and local governments have looked for alternati ves to current public sector labor policies. Recent initiatives range from privatization to labor-management cooperation programs within the public sector. In this Note, the author challenges privatization sche mes and uses empirical research to evaluate factors that influence pub lic sector cooperation program outcomes. After applying multiple regre ssion analyses to data derived from Department of Labor Task Force sur vey responses, the author concludes that cooperation programs can succ eed by letting employees decide how to attain specific goals for impro ving public service delivery. These employee initiatives will be most successful if accompanied dy labor law reforms that enable greater job security encourage innovation, and motivate genuine industrial democr acy.