The labor policies of the federal and state governments
contain numerous pronouncements in favor of "free collective bargain-
ing," but the strike control laws examined in Chapters 12, 13, and 14 in-
volve clear attempts to limit the workings of such collective bargaining.
This raises some key questions of public policy: Is collective bargaining
of sufficient importance to protect? Is emergency strike legislation neces-
sary? Can a form of emergency strike legislation be devised which does
not inhibit collective bargaining? What are some of the key administra-
tive, practical, and legal problems which have emerged from the work-
ings of federal and state strike control legislation -- other than the effects
on the bargaining process?

No institution or method of determining conditions of work is, or
can be, perfectly satisfactory to everyone. But few things are more im-
portant to both the individual and society than the methods of determin-
ing the conditions under which individuals buy and sell each other's and
their own labor. In the United States the Civil War was fought essen-
tially over this question. Before and since then, numerous controversies
have arisen as to what is the best or fairest method of deciding basic
industrial relations questions.

If any answer has emerged, it is that no objective criterion is, or can
be, developed to determine the employment relationship to the satisfac-
tion of everyone. The employment relationship is, and must remain, an
economic one. What is economically desirable or even necessary for the
good of the business and therefore for the continued employment of the
work force may be quite different from what would be personally pleas-
ant or satisfactory to workers or, in the case of unions, helpful to the
union as an institution or to the intraunion political fortunes of the un-

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