Richard C. Kearney

Collective Bargaining and Faculty Compensation: A Comparative Analysis.

Multiple regression is used to estimate faculty compensation levels and compensation change for 46 paired union and nonunion institutions of higher education for the year 1974-75. With the five other independent variables controlled, the union/nonunion dummy regression coefficient accounts for over

The Determinants of State Employee Compensation

1,000 more in average annual compensation levels for unionized faculties than for their nonunion counterparts. In addition, the union/nonunion variable is the most important single explanatory factor in the analysis of compensation change from 1969-70 to 197475.

Reinventing Government in Reformed Municipalities Manager, Mayor, and Council Actions

Benefits are growing in importance for state employees and capturing an increasing proportion of the total compensation package. This investigation attempts to identify factors that account for variations across the states in individual and family health insurance contributions, pension benefits, paid leave, child and elderly care, and average salary. State employee union density was found to be the most consistent and important determinant of compensation. Cost of living was also predictive of some compensation factors. These findings contribute insights into an important and underresearched area of human resource management, but improved comparativemeasures of benefits are needed to aid future research.

Are U.S. Cities Losing Power and Authority? Perceptions of Local Government Actors

The authors place reinventing government (REGO) efforts in the context of mayor-council municipalities. After briefly reviewing the emerging body of local government research on reinventing government, they address two principal research questions: First, what are the correlates and extent of REGO actions by managers, mayors, and city councils? Second, what is the nature of REGO interactions among managers, mayors, and councils? Employing two International City Management Association data sets, the authors conclude that although managers may be the prime movers of REGO in U.S. municipalities, they can only accomplish what their community, governmental, and political environments permit.

Sunset: A Survey and Analysis of the State Experience

Have the power and discretionary authority enjoyed by U.S. local governments changed over the past decade? The answer to the question is sought not through creating a metric that gauges the legal or structural power possessed by cities and counties but rather by surveying well-placed actors who are in a position to know. Their assessments, for the most part, suggest that local jurisdictions, especially cities, have experienced an erosion of authority at the hands of their state governments.

Public Sector Labor— Management Relations: Change or Status Quo?

The rise of Sunset in Colorado in 1976 was greeted with great hopes and expectations. State Sunset laws enjoyed the support of liberals and conservatives, Democrats and Republicans, across the United States. They were seen as anti-big government and pro-consumer. As a foot soldier in the tax revolt, Sunset promised to reduce the size and costs of government and to lower barriers to competition. Between 1976 and 1982 all 50 state legislatures and Congress considered adoption of Sunset laws. Thirty-six states had enacted Sunset by the end of 1981, representing a remarkably rapid diffusion of a state innovation.

Public Human Resource Management: Problems and Prospects

As unions in the private sector have continued on what appears to the pessimist to be a slow march into obscurity and irrelevance, public employee unions and collective bargaining are thriving in a majority of states. In this article, the author first provides a brief overview of the relevant scholarly research, and then changes the focus to the future of unionization and collective bargaining in the public and nonprofit sectors. It is suggested that the deck continues to be stacked against federal unions and collective bargaining, but that there are portents for significant gains in the state and local sectors, depending on bargaining-friendly changes in state and federal law.

Public Sector Retiree Health Care Benefits: A View from the American States

Chapter Topic Contributors Introduction to PPA Hays, Kearney, & Coggburn Section One: The Setting Values and Perspectives Klingner, Donald HRM and the Constitution Rosenbloom, David and Chanin, Joshua Federal Government HR Thompson, James & Seidner, Robert State Government HR Selden, Sally Local Government HR Mason, Susan G. & Stein, Lana Nonprofit HR Issues Gazley, Beth Section Two: Techniques Strategic Human Capital Pynes, Joan Performance Appraisal/Management Daley, Dennis Pensions and Benefits Roberts, Gary Motivation Gabris, Gerald & Davis, Trenton HR Metrics Hays, Steve Workforce Planning Jacobsen, Willow Grievances and Employee Rights Sowa, Jessica Section Three: The Issues EEO and Affirmative Action Kellough, Ed Gender and Workplace Issues Guy, Mary Ellen &Spice, Susan Info Technology/Virtual HR Wooters, Robert T. Ethics and HRM West, Jonathan Public Sector Labor Issues Mareschal, Patrice Outsourcing HR Coggburn, Jerrell Conclusion: Reform and Prospects Prospects for PPAâ ¦ Bowman, James

A Brief Rejoinder: Saving the Civil Service

This paper reports findings of a survey on retiree health care benefits in the American states. It begins with an overview of the challenges the states face following the reporting of their unfunded liabilities for other (non-pension) post employment benefits, as required by GASB 45. Next, it reports survey data on the perceived effects of health care benefits on human resources goals (recruitment, retention, and retirement), the current structure of state retiree health care programs, and measures being considered and/or adopted to deal with retiree health care costs. Survey results show that the states have adopted cost containment strategies and cost-sharing programs. They have now begun to introduce preventive medicine and wellness efforts while continuing with further cost-sharing. A few states have even begun to contemplate major cost shedding options. The paper concludes with a discussion of the implications for retiree health care policy and human resource management.

Subsidiarity in State-Local Relations

appear pristine, reinvention’s advocates pay insufficient attention to (or fail to appreciate the significance of) the long-term implications of these movements. Obviously, we are not opposed to a more efficient public service, and we readily agree that contemporary civil service systems are often self perpetuating, nonresponsive, and even inept. Our essay merely tries to pose a single question: &dquo;Is the civil service sufficiently corrupt and/or incompetent to risk its near-total dismantling?&dquo; There can indeed be too much &dquo;merit,&dquo; as when it is expressed in terms of self serving policies that protect inefficient employees against all claims. But, by the same token, there are inherent risks associated with any whole-