Abstract
We analyzed 740 cities to determine whether they considered or adopted the contracting out of their sanitation collection service. The presence of a municipal sanitation union reduces the likelihood that a city considers the contracting-out option and the likelihood of adoption of the privatization alternative, but only in those cities which have cooperative relations with the union.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees.Passing the Bucks: The Contracting Out of Public Services. Washington, D.C.: American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, 1983.
Bennett, James T., and Thomas J. DiLorenzo. “Public Employee Unions and the Privatization of ‘Public’ Services.”Journal of Labor Research 4 (Winter 1983): 33–44.
Burton, John F., Jr., and Terry Thomason. “The Extent of Collective Bargaining in the Public Sector.” InPublic-Sector Bargaining, 2d ed. Edited by Benjamin Aaron, Joyce M. Najita, and James L. Stern, pp. 1–51. Industrial Relations Research Association Series. Washington, D.C.: Bureau of National Affairs, 1988.
Chandler, Timothy D.Public Sector Unions and the Privatization of Municipal Services. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Institute of Labor and Industrial Relations, 1991.
Cobb, Roger W., and Charles D. Elder. “Participation in American Politics: The Dynamics of Agenda-Building. Boston: Allyn and Bacon, 1972.
David, Irwin T. “Privatization in America.” InThe Municipal Year Book, 1988, pp. 43–55. Washington, D.C.: International City Management Association, 1988.
Downs, Anthony.An Economic Theory of Democracy. New York: Harper and Row, 1957.
Dubin, Jeffrey A., and Peter Navarro. “How Markets for Impure Public Goods Organize: The Case of Household Refuse Collection.”Journal of Law, Economics, and Organization 4 (Fall 1988): 217–41.
Edwards, Linda N., and Franklin R. Edwards. “Wellington-Winter Revisited: The Case of Municipal Sanitation Collection.”Industrial and Labor Relations Review 35 (April 1982): 307–18.
Ferris, James M. “The Decision to Contract Out: An Empirical Analysis.”Urban Affairs Quarterly 22 (December 1986): 289–311.
_____ and Elizabeth Graddy. “Contracting Out: For What? With Whom?”Public Administration Review 46 (July/August 1986): 332–44.
Hanrahan, John D.Government For Sale: Contracting-Out the New Patronage. Washington, D.C.: American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees, 1977.
Hanushek, Eric A., and John E. Jackson.Statistical Methods for Social Scientists. New York: Academic Press, 1977.
Kingdon, John W.Agendas, Alternatives, and Public Policies. Boston: Little, Brown, 1984.
Kochan, Thomas A., Harry C. Katz, and Robert B. McKersie.The Transformation of American Industrial Relations. New York: Basic Books, 1986.
Kolderie, Ted. “The Two Different Concepts of Privatization.”Public Administration Review 46 (July/August 1986): 285–91.
Lewin, David. “Public Employee Unionism in the 1980’s: An Analysis of Transformation.” InUnions in Transition: Entering the Second Century. Edited by S. M. Lipset, pp. 241–64. San Francisco: Institute of Contemporary Studies Press, 1986.
_____. “Technological Change in the Public Sector: The Case of Sanitation Service.” InWorkers, Managers, and Technological Change: Emerging Patterns of Labor Relations. Edited by D. B. Cornfield, pp. 281–309. New York: Plenum, 1987.
_____ and Peter Feuille. “Behavioral Research in Industrial Relations.”Industrial and Labor Relations Review 36 (April 1983): 341–60.
_____ Peter Feuille, Thomas A. Kochan, and John Thomas Delaney.Public Sector Labor Relations: Analysis and Readings. 3rd ed. Lexington, MA: Lexington Books, 1988.
Linowes, David F. “The Future of Privatization.”National Forum 70 (Spring 1990): 2–4.
McGuire, Robert A., Robert L. Ohsfeldt, and T. Norman Van Cott. “The Determinants of the Choice Between Public and Private Production of a Publicly Funded Service.”Public Choice 54 (1987): 211–30.
Morgan, David R., and Robert E. England. “The Two Faces of Privatization.”Public Administration Review 48 (November/December 1988): 979–87.
Moe, Ronald C. “Exploring the Limits of Privatization.”Public Administration Review 47 (November/December 1987): 453–60.
Morley, Elaine. “Patterns in the Use of Alternative Service Delivery Approaches.” InThe Municipal Year Book, 1989, pp. 33–44. Washington, D.C.: International City Management Association, 1989.
National Commission for Employment Policy.Privatization and Public Employees: The Impact of City and County Contracting Out on Government Workers. Research Report No. 89-04, March 1988.
_____.The Long Term Implications of Privatization: Evidence from Selected U.S. Cities and Counties. Research Report No. 89-04, March 1989.
Perry, James L., and Timlynn T. Babitsky. 1986. “Comparative Performance in Urban Bus Transit: Assessing Privatization Strategies.”Public Administration Review 46 (January/February 1986): 57–66.
Sauter, Robert W. “Union View: Subcontracting the Work of Union Members in the Public Sector.” InIndustrial Relations Research Association: Proceedings of the 1988 Spring Meeting, pp. 487–97. Madison, Wisconsin: Industrial Relations Research Association, 1988.
Savas, Emmanuel S. “Private v. Public Refuse Collection: A Critical Review of the Evidence.”Journal of Urban Analysis 6 (1979): 1–13.
_____.Privatizing the Public Sector. Chatham, NJ: Chatham House Publishers, 1982.
Stevens, Barbara J. “Scale, Market Structure, and the Cost of Refuse Collection.”Review of Economics and Statistics 60 (August 1978): 438–48.
_____. “Comparing Public- and Private-Sector Productive Efficiency: An Analysis of Eight Activities.”National Productivity Review 3 (Autumn 1984): 395–406.
Sullivan, Harold J. “Privatization of Public Services: A Growing Threat to Constitutional Rights.”Public Administration Review 47 (November/Decemmer 1987): 461–71.
Valente, Carl F., and Lydia D. Manchester.Rethinking Local Services: Examining Alternative Delivery Approaches. Washington, D.C.: International City Management Association, 1984.
Wellington, Harry H., and Ralph D. Winter, Jr.The Unions and the Cities. Washington, D.C.: Brookings Institution, 1971.
Zax, Jeffrey S. “Wages, Nonwage Compensation, and Municipal Unions.”Industrial Relations 27 (Fall 1988): 301–17.
_____ and Casey Ichniowski. “The Effects of Public Sector Unionism on Pay, Employment, Department Budgets, and Municipal Expenditures.” InWhen Public Sector Workers Unionize. Edited by Richard B. Freeman and Casey Ichniowski, pp. 323–61. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1988.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Additional information
The authors thank the Governmental Refuse Collection and Disposal Association and the Institute of Labor and Industrial Relations and the Research Board at the University of Illinois for generously supporting this research; Penni Falkinburg for some excellent research assistance; and John Delaney and Wally Hendricks for some very helpful comments.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Chandler, T.D., Feuille, P. Cities, unions, and the privatization of sanitation services. Journal of Labor Research 15, 53–71 (1994). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02685675
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02685675