The logic of labor quiescence

In 1993, the government of Alberta embarked on an ambitious plan to elimina te the provincial debt by 2010 and balance the budget within four years wit hout raising taxes. The major vehicles to the plan 's achievement M ere unp recedented budget cuts and public sector restructuring. Initially: public s ector union leaders were defiant, promising an all-out struggle to thwart p olicies that jeopardized the unions' vested interests in job security and o rganizational survival. More than five years later; unions have failed to i nfluence in any significant way policy development and implementation. I ex plore why public sector unions did not mount any collective action to influ ence the political discourse in Alberta between 1993 and 1998.