Benjamin Sachs is the Kestnbaum Professor of Labor and Industry at Harvard Law School and a leading expert in the field of labor law and labor relations. He is also faculty director of the Center for Labor and a Just Economy. Professor Sachs teaches courses in labor law, employment law, and law and social change, and his writing focuses on union organizing and unions in American politics. Prior to joining the Harvard faculty in 2008, Professor Sachs was the Joseph Goldstein Fellow at Yale Law School. From 2002-2006, he served as Assistant General Counsel of the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) in Washington, D.C. Professor Sachs graduated from Yale Law School in 1998, and served as a judicial law clerk to the Honorable Stephen Reinhardt of the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. His writing has appeared in the Harvard Law Review, the Yale Law Journal, the Columbia Law Review, the New York Times and elsewhere. Professor Sachs received the Yale Law School teaching award in 2007 and in 2013 received the Sacks-Freund Award for Teaching Excellence at Harvard Law School. He can be reached at [email protected].
A major theme in the debate over public-sector unions has been the idea that public-sector workers get paid more than their counterparts in the private sector. Joe Slater has an important new paper that sheds helpful light on this question. Slater reviews the findings of a number of studies on the question of whether public-sector workers get paid more (or less) than their private-sector analogues and he reaches the following three conclusions:
One, a majority of the studies find that “public workers are paid somewhat less than comparable private-sector employees,” but a number of studies find the opposite. Two, there is near consensus that workers at the lower-end of the pay scale (janitors, for example, and landscapers) do better in the public sector than in the private sector. On the other hand, workers at the upper-end of the pay scale (lawyers, for example) do substantially better in the private sector than in the public. Three, public-sector workers get less in take-home pay than private-sector workers, but they “generally receive more generous health and pension benefits” and are also more likely to enjoy some type of job security.
Slater also usefully points out, however, that while public sector workers have better pensions than do their private-sector counterparts, pension levels are not the product of collective bargaining. As Slater writes, “in the overwhelming majority of jurisdictions . . . public-sector pension benefit formulas are not legal subjects of collective bargaining. Rather, almost everywhere, public-sector pension benefit formulas are set by a separate statute governing pensions, and those formulas cannot be changed through collective bargaining.”
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March 6
A federal judge hears Wilcox's challenge to her NLRB removal and the FTC announces a "Joint Labor Task Force."
March 5
In today’s news and commentary, lots of headlines for the United Auto Workers as the union comes out in support of tariffs, files for an election at a Volkswagen distribution center in New Jersey, and continues to bargain a first contract at the Chattanooga VW plant they organized last spring. The UAW released a statement […]
March 4
In today’s news and commentary, the Tennessee Drivers Union allegedly faces retaliation for organizing, major hospital groups are hit with a wage suppression lawsuit, and updates from Capitol Hill. The Tennessee Drivers Union announced on social media that its members are facing retaliation from Uber and Lyft for their rideshare organizing activities. Specifically, 34 members […]
March 3
Democrats invite fired federal workers to Trump’s address to a joint session; the NLRB’s acting general counsel announces agency focus on boosting settlements; the United Federation of Teachers may face a regime change
March 2
Judge partially blocks federal worker firings; Trump Administration wants data on federal worker unions; AFT fights Musk by pressuring Tesla.
February 28
In today’s news and commentary, a Senate committee advances Lori Chavez-DeRemer’s nomination and UAW reaches a tentative agreement with Rolls-Royce. On Thursday, the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor & Pensions voted to advance the nomination of Lori Chavez-DeRemer for Secretary of Labor, 14-9. At the Senate hearing, Senator Bernie Sanders, the committee’s ranking member, […]