; or (C) causing diminution of employment and wages in such volume so as to substantially impair or disrupt the market for goods flowing from or into the channels of commerce. (2) The inequality of bargaining power between public employees, who do not possess full freedom of association or actual liberty of contract, and public employers substantially burdens and affects the flow of commerce, and tends to aggravate recurrent business depressions, by depressing wage rates and the purchasing power of wage earners and by negatively affecting the stabilization of competitive wage rates and decent working conditions. (3) Experience in public employment indicates that the statutory protection of the rights of public employees to organize, act concertedly, and bargain collectively safeguards the public interest and promotes the free and unobstructed flow of commerce among the States by removing certain recognized sources of strife and unrest. Such protection facilitates and encourages the amicable settlement of disputes between public employees and their public employers involving wages, hours, and other terms and conditions of employment. (4) To be most effective and stable, labor-management relationships in the public sector must be based on trust, mutual respect, open communication, bilateral consensual problem solving, and shared accountability. In many public agencies, it is the union that provides the institutional stability as elected leaders and appointees come and go. (5) State and local public employees play an essential role in the efforts of the United States to detect, prevent, and respond to terrorist attacks, and to respond to natural disasters, hazardous materials, and other mass casualty incidents. State and local public employees, as first responders, are a component of our Nation's National Incident Management System, developed by the Department of Homeland Security to coordinate response to and recovery from terrorism, major natural disasters, and other major emergencies. Effective and stable public