Time was when a strike a ainst the public was rare ang considered highly unethical if not unthinkahle, But public sector unions are growing in power. They are flexing their muscles, striking (sometimes illegally). and extracting settlements that require added tax burdens at a time when holding the tax line is an urgent national philosophy. The Herald is concerned about the trend. The largest single union in the ALF-CIO is now the American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) with over a million members. It is also the fastest growing, having quadrupled in size since 1964, according to a spokesman for United States Industrial Council. Heavy AFSCME demands have helped to nearly triple total wages of state and local employees over the past dozen years. They have also sounded a warning of how far public unions apparently are prepared to go to resist taxpayer demands for greater economy in govemment. Just since California’s adoption of Proposition 13, there have been many strikes, slowdowns, and “sick-ins” by public employees across the country. The growing militancy of the AFSCME was signalled by the union’s president in his edict, “Let Baltimore burn!” during a 1974 police strike in that city. To get the police back to work, Baltimore had to approve salary increases that required raising taxes. Only last weekend police and firemen in Memphis ended a bitter strike which brought public suffering and required callmg up 2000 national guardsmen to keep watchlover the city. ‘ Several other strikes in the public sector have plagued cities in recent weeks. Among these, Detroit sanitation and bus workers held a wildcat strike; there was trouble involving garbagemen in San Antonio ; workers demanding union representation and pay increases recessed garbage collections in Baton Rouge. All but seven states – Wyoming, Colorado, Arizona, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina and South Carolina – have laws dealing with strikes by public workers. In seven other states – Alaska, Hawaii, Oregon, Montana, Minnesota, Pennsylvania, and Vermont – municipal employees have a limited right to strike. Walkouts are banned in the remainder of the states, including Utah. . But laws apparently don’t automatically solve the problem. For example, recent stri e involving public workers has occurred in at least two states wherein strikes are banned. Currently, according to Industrial Council sources, public unions are working to expand collective bargaining rights, with particular emphasis on securing compulsory arbitration. The unions favor arbitration because they can gain more by this means, short of striking. – From the standpoint of the public, however, arbitration violates democratic principles. Democracy means rule by the people. But any salary increases awarded by a select group through arbitration must be paid by the taxpayers who would have no say in the process. Congress and others in authority in the matter should give close scrutiny to this problem. The American people must be mindful of the increasing power usurpation and resist erosion of their fundamental right to make the decisions and manage public affairs.