Except that book is a pretty shallow hatchet job on the subject of public unions, with a clear agenda.<p>The argument for public unions (aside from all of the private sector arguments that also apply to public unions) is as follows:<p>- Government is often subject to swings in power, political party, budget crises, etc. that are much less common in private sector jobs.  There&#x27;s a value in giving people job stability here - case in point, a new school board is elected and decides they want to purge anyone from the science department district-wide who doesn&#x27;t believe in creationism.  The union acts to protect those people.<p>- Politics, by its nature, has been bedeviled by cronyism and favoritism.  Unions are one of many ways that situation can be helped, but helping to insure continuity across administrations or preventing punitive actions towards people of a different political party, for example, has real value.<p>I&#x27;m not thrilled with the behavior of a lot of unions in the US, but I disagree with the premise that &quot;public unions are clearly bad&quot;.