Book Reviews : The Labor Problem in the Public Service. By MORTON ROBERT GODINE. (Cambridge: Harvard University Press. 1951. Pp. xii, 305. $5.00.)

• Author: Phillips Bradley
• Published date: 01 December 1951
• Date: 01 December 1951
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1177/106591295100400439
• Subject Matter: Articles

681

informed

than

nonunion

workers.

Those

engaged

in

retail

selling

and

in

construction

work

indicated

more

knowledge

of

the

law

than

those

engaged

in

other

occupations.

The

study

concludes

with

some

recommendations

which

will

be

of

interest

not

only

to

students

of

economics

and

political

science

(particu-

larly

those

in

the

fields

of

social

security

and

public

administration),

but

also

to

legislators

as

a

guide

for

practical

reform

of

existing

legislation.

University of New Mexico.

VIRGINIA

B.

SLOAN.

The

Labor

Problem

in

the

Public

Service.

By

MORTON

ROBERT

GODINE.

(Cambridge:

Harvard

University

Press.

1951.

Pp.

xii,

305.

$5.00.)

This

is

only

the

second

comprehensive

study

of

labor-management

relations

in

government

which

has

so

far

appeared

in

this

country.

The

author

devotes

about

a

third

of

his

book

to

the

practical

aspects

of

union

growth

(chiefly

at

the

federal

level),

the

objectives

of

unionism,

and

strikes

and

political

activity.

Throughout,

he

compares

French

and

(to

a

less

extent)

British

experience

in

these

fields.

He

demonstrates

the

relative

reluctance

of

government,

especially

the

courts,

to

recognize

&dquo;rights&dquo;

of

employees

as

to

union

membership,

and

as

to

policies

similar

to

those

promoted

by

unions

in

private

industry.

About

a

quarter

of

the

volume

traces

the

development

of

legislative

and

administrative

policy

(again,

primarily

at

the

federal

level)

as

to

employee

relations.

Pressures

on

legislatures-in

Washington,

in

the

48

state

capitols,

and

in

most

city

halls-by

public

employees

is

an

endemic

element

in

our

political

life.

If

a

full

right

to

collective

bargaining

by

government

employees

has

not

been

generally

achieved,

it is

not

insignif-

icant

that

by

1946,

the

Bureau

of

Labor

Statistics

had

recorded

21

federal,

3

state,

and

79

county

and

local

agreements.

Many

more

must

have

since

been

negotiated.

The

most

acute

need

on

both

sides

is,

of

course,

greater

flexibility

in

wage

and

salary

rate-setting.

This

presents

an

insoluble

problem

until

legislatures

go

beyond

the

present

philosophy

of

permanent

wage

scales

mitigated

by

occasional

delegations

of

administrative

discretion,

often

too

spotty

to

satisfy

legitimate

employee

interests

in

wage

policy.

Or,

to

employee

representation,

Mr.

Godine

points

to

some

conspicuous

examples

of

effective

representation

plans-notably

T.V.A.

and

Bonne-

ville-which,

he

believes,

should

be

extended

broadly.

The

rest

of

the

volume

is

devoted

to

an

acute

analysis

of

some

of

the

theoretical

problems

implicit

in

all

aspects

of

governmental

labor,

management

relations.

The

&dquo;state

as

sovereign&dquo;

underlies

the

difference,

both

in

theory

and

in

law,

between

the

rules

that

government

recognizes

as

binding

on

itself

and

those

which

it

imposes

on

private

employers.