Dunlop's industrial relations system sees three groups of actors whose chief concern is to establish a system of substantive and procedural rules that reflect the contexts within which they interact. The rules includes not only include those relating to wages, hours, and other conditions and terms of employment, but also rules governing the activities of employees at the work site. Distinctions between the nature of the work performed by police and fire-fighters are reflected in the degree of professional training, the extent of individual judgment on the job, and the technology employed in each occupation. The concept of parity in this case involves not only wage and benefits, but also a parity of status within and between the two types of employee organizations. In contrast with the International Association of Fire-Fighters, which is a union lobbying at the State level for all ranks of fire-fighters, police organizations tend to be fragmented, based on individual rank, and frequently exclusive. A market analysis of parity discusses the supply of the labor market and the budget governing the quantity and quality of service provided to meet the increasing demand. The realities of police/fire fighter parity can be examined and evaluated in a number of contexts, including proposals for consolidation for some or all of the functions, and bargaining for municipal budget shares with public benefit the determining consideration in raising taxes and allocating expenditures. Four figures and 33 references are included.