1. Phantom prosperity: the great recession The effect of the great recession on public sector employment State approaches to public employee unions and budget cuts Filling the budget shortfall into the future 2. Seniority rules: the civil service system The merit principle Barriers to reform New public wage management systems New governance-shared delivery 3. (Public) workers of the United States Unite Resistance to public sector bargaining The essence of collective bargaining appears in the public sector Unions begin to grow through the legislative process Public unions experience government backlash The contemporary status Anti-union push? Public sector union influence in California Current views of unions The difference between public-sector and private sector unions Unions as a political machine Counter to big business 4. Public versus private: who really makes more? Principles for determining pay in the public sector Pay differentials Determining the cost of deferred benefits The impact of unions The iron triangle 5. Comparison of lifetime earnings A compensation model The blue-collar model The white-collar model 6. Pensions gone wild Public pension plans in the United States The pension benefit guaranty corporation Public sector unions The price of public pensions and how we got here Where do we go from here? 7. Rethinking public sector employment Increased transparency Conflicts in awarding compensation should be avoided Pensions and other Other Postemployment Benefits Civil Service reform Collective bargaining