Macroeconomics Over the Last Several Research Paper

This is problematic, because it allows government waste and inefficiency to increase, which this makes it more difficult to: fire or layoff non-essential employees. As a result, there has been a concentrated effort to eliminate this power, in order to improve the state's ability to adapt to shifts in the economy. (Weitzman)

However, many of the public employee unions and liberal Democrats have been fighting this law. The reason why, is because they believe that under the basic Constitutional principles: the Governor and the Legislature simply cannot pass a law to strip employees of this power. This has led to a campaign of resistance among Democrats opposed to the law, who were refusing to vote on it. (Weitzman)

After this political strategy failed and the law was passed, is when the focus was changed to challenging its legality in court. As the public employee unions would claim that they are being stripped of their right to due process of law. While, the state is saying that these steps are necessary in order to prevent a financial implosion (resulting in a possible collapse in services). Recently, a judge ruled: that the new regulations are a violation of due process of law and ordered that arguments should be heard about its legality. This is important, because it highlights the overall challenges that all states are wrestling with during the Great Recession. (Weitzman)

What this shows, is how the economy has changed, because globalization has been having an impact upon: the way labor contracts are being negotiated. As the public is demanding more services and wants the government to maintain a balance budget. Yet, in order to achieve this objective they must be able to eliminate areas that are considered to be wasteful. As a result, there has been a push among lawmakers, to eliminate the power of collective bargaining. This is because many people feel that this authority has been abused over years. as, public employees will often seek out: generous pay packages and lucrative benefits. Yet, they do not want to have to: work flexible schedules or compete with private enterprises in the delivery of the same services. Over the course of time, this increases wasteful spending and reduces productivity significantly. (Weitzman) Once the recession began to have a more adverse impact upon the budget, is when these areas would be brought into question. The reason why, is due to the fact that these agreements prevented: lawmakers and administrators from making any kind of significant reduction in the number of employees / benefits. At which point, it became evident that some kind of showdown was taking place. As there were the realities, that the government needs to have greater amounts of flexibility, leading to the passage of the law. However, these legal challenges mean that the overall scope of these powers will face judicial review. (Weitzman) Bibliography Weitzman, Hal. "Judge Blocks State's Union Rights Law." FT, 2011. Web. 19 Mar. 2011. .....