Wednesday, July 21, 2010


Beware Public-Safety Unions
A bill sponsored by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid is waiting to be voted on: S 3194 Public Safety Employer-Employee Cooperation Act of 2009, also known as "Police and Firefighters Monopoly Bargaining Bill." This bill is to provide collective-bargaining rights for public-safety officers employed by states or their political subdivisions. This bill will do nothing but play into the unions' power grab and put citizens at risk.

If S 3194 passes, it would grant every police officer, firefighter and emergency medical technician at the state or local level the right to form and join a labor union. It would direct local governments to recognize the employees' labor union; require local government to collectively bargain over hours, wages, and the terms and conditions of employment other than pensions; require states and municipal governments to establish an impasse resolution process; require that state courts enforce the rights established by this mandatory collective bargaining bill; and direct every state - even if that state currently recognizes employee-collective-bargaining rights - to conform to federal regulations around mandatory collective bargaining within two years of the bill's effective date, without regard to state or local laws.

How many states and local governments will sustain economic chaos and failure if this passes?

This is a dangerous, big-labor power grab, and it's just the first step toward forcing all state and local public employees under big-labor control....