COLLECTIVE BARGAINING The IAFF strongly supports the Public Safety Employer-Employee Cooperation Act and encourages Members of Congress to support of the bill. BACKGROUND Fire and police departments benefit immeasurably from productive partnerships between employers and employees. Studies have shown that communities promoting such cooperation enjoy more effective and efficient delivery of emergency services. Such cooperation, however, is undermined in states that do not provide public safety employees with the fundamental right to bargain with their employers.
Over the years, Congress has expanded the scope of collective bargaining laws to protect private sector employees, non-profit association employees, transportation workers, federal government employees and, most recently, congressional employees. One of the few groups of workers not covered by a federal law is state and local government employees, including public safety officers.
While Congress has historically given states and localities wide latitude in managing their own employees, the increasing role of the public safety community in homeland security creates an obligation for the federal government to ensure that public safety officers have basic collective bargaining rights.
CURRENT LEGISLATION
U.S. House: H.R. 980, the Public Safety Employer-Employee Cooperation Act
Sponsors: Representative Dale Kildee (D-MI)
Representative John Duncan (R-TN) U.S. Senate: S. 2123, the Public Safety Employer-Employee Cooperation Act
Sponsors: Senator Judd Gregg (R-NH)
Senator Edward Kennedy (D-MA) Summary: H.R. 980 and S. 2123 would grant public safety officers minimum collective
bargaining rights in states where they don?t have them already. The bill
would establish minimum standards for state collective bargaining laws, including: ? the right of public safety officers to bargain over wages, hours and
working conditions;
? a dispute resolution mechanism, such as fact finding or mediation; and
? enforcement of contracts through state courts The legislation expressly prohibits strikes and lockouts; does not infringe on
right-to-work laws; and does not interfere with existing state laws and collective
bargaining agreements. Cosponsors H.R. 980 Cosponsors S. 2123
CONGRESSIONAL ACTION
On February 12, 2007, H.R. 980 was introduced in the U.S. House of Representatives and referred to the Committee on Education and Labor.
On June 5, 2007, the House Committee on Education and Labor?s Subcommittee on Health, Employment, Labor and Pensions held a hearing on H.R. 980. On June 20, 2007, the House Committee on Education and Labor approved H.R. 980 by a vote of 42-1. On July 17, 2007, the U.S. House of Representatives voted to pass H.R. 980 by a vote of 314-97. To see how your Representative voted, click here: Collective Bargaining Vote
On October 1, 2007, S. 2123 was introduced in the U.S. Senate and referred to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions.
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