MUST ANSWER ASSIGNMENTS 1 AND 2.  I uploaded other student answers so just do basic research and do not copy their answers. word doc have all the student answers. also mention the source if your copying words from some where DUE TONIGHT

assignment 1

After reading pages 1-32 of Wellington and Winter’s The Unions and the Cities

(a) Outline the authors’ argument against allowing public sector employees the right to strike?

(b) Now that 45 years have passed, do you agree or disagree with their predictions? 

assignment 2

(a) Read Steve Malanga’s 2010 City Journal article about California athttp://www.city-journal.org/2010/20_2_california-unions.html . Notice that Republican Ronald Reagan was governor when California state employees were first granted the right to organize in 1968.  Given the facts as Malanga states them, construct an explanation based on Olson’s theory that would explain why public sector unions have become powerful in California.

(b) Give two examples of California public secvtor unions that have influenced elections in the interest of expanding demand for their services and raising their members’ wages. How would Olson explain this behavior?

 (c) What has happened to crime rates and student achievement scores in California since the massive pay increases to public safety personnel (police) and teachers that Malanga describe?   See: http://www.census.gov/compendia/statab/2012/tables/12s0308.pdf andhttp://www.census.gov/compendia/statab/2012/tables/12s0233.pdf . Are the nation’s highest salaries and benefits justified by outcomes?

(d) Would Olson be surprised that even Arnold Schwarzeneger, the Terminator,* was unable to defeat union power in California?