In stark contrast to the shrinking organized labor force in the private sector, the opposite is happening in government. Northampton County Executive John Brown told county council at its June 6 meeting that 76 percent of the county workforce is organized labor. What really presents a headache is that there are 11 different bargaining units, each of which requires a contract.

One union contract expired in 2010, and no new contract is in force. Another six labor contracts expired at the end of last year. So at this time there are eight bargaining units in need of a new contract.

Another two labor contracts are set to expire at the end of this year. The final will end at the end of 2015.

"That will be critical to what we look at from a budgeting perspective overall," Brown said.