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Managing America: Labor

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Week Ending July 20, 2007

H.R.980 To provide collective bargaining rights for public safety officers employed by States or their political subdivisions.

The bill aims to provide collective bargaining rights to public safety officers employed by State and local governments. The bill covers enforcement officer, a firefighter, or emergency medical services personnel and would prohibit them, public safety employers, and labor organizations from engaging in lockouts or strikes and does not affect collective bargaining rights now in place.

The Federal Labor Relations Authority (FLRA) is directed to determine as to whether a State substantially provides for collective bargaining rights of public safety employees. The FLRA will look to se if States are granting them the right to form and join a union which may exclude management and supervisors, provide for bargaining over hours, wages and terms and conditions of employment, makes available an interest impasse resolution procedure and requires enforcement through State courts.

If a State does not substantially provide for the rights and responsibilities then the State will be required to meet those standards within two years or the date of the end of the first regular session of the State legislature that begins after this Act is enacted.

The FLRA will issue regulations establishing procedures which provide the rights and responsibilities of that are not substantially provided for.

The FLRA will determine the appropriateness of units for labor organization representation; supervise and conduct elections to determine whether a labor organization has been selected as an exclusive representative by a voting majority of the employees in an appropriate unit; resolve issues relating to the duty to bargain in good faith; conduct hearings and resolve complaints of unfair labor practices;  resolve exceptions to the awards of arbitrators; protect the right of each employee to form, join, or assist any labor organization, or to refrain from any such activity, freely and without fear of penalty or reprisal, and protect each employee in the exercise of such right;  if the Authority finds that any State is not in compliance with the regulations prescribed under subsection (a), direct compliance by such State by order; and take such other actions as are necessary and appropriate to effectively administer this Act, including issuing subpoenas requiring the attendance and testimony of witnesses and the production of documentary or other evidence from any place in the United States, and administering oaths, taking or ordering the taking of depositions, ordering responses to written interrogatories, and receiving and examining witnesses.

“If a State fails to comply with a final order issued by the Authority, the Authority shall petition any United States Court of Appeals with jurisdiction over the parties or the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit to enforce any final orders under this section, and for appropriate temporary relief or a restraining order.”

“any interested party shall have the right to file suit against any political subdivision of a State, or, if the State has waived its sovereign immunity, against the State itself, in any district court of the United States of competent jurisdiction to enforce compliance with the regulations issued by the” FLRA.

“A State may exempt from its State law, or from the requirements established under this Act, a political subdivision of the State that has a population of less than 5,000 or that employs fewer than 25 full time employees”.

Sponsor:  Rep. Dale Kildee (D-MI-5^th)

Vote: Passed the House 314 to 97 RC 633

Cost to the taxpayers: Authorizes such sums as may be necessary

Earmark Certification:   Not applicable to this bill.

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MORE INFORMATION

Congress finds the following:

(1) Labor-management relationships and partnerships are based on trust, mutual respect, open communication, bilateral consensual problem solving, and shared accountability. In many public safety agencies it is the union that provides the institutional stability as elected leaders and appointees come and go.

(2) State and local public safety officers 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. As the first to arrive on scene, State and local public safety officers must be prepared to protect life and property and to preserve scarce and vital Federal resources, avoid substantial and debilitating interference with interstate and foreign commerce, and to protect the national security of the United States. Public safety employer-employee cooperation is essential in meeting these needs and is, therefore, in the National interest.

(3) The health and safety of the Nation and the best interests of public safety employers and employees may be furthered by the settlement of issues through the processes of collective bargaining.

(4) The Federal Government is in the position to encourage conciliation, mediation, and voluntary arbitration to aid and encourage employers and the representatives of their employees to reach and maintain agreements concerning rates of pay, hours, and working conditions, and to make all reasonable efforts through negotiations to settle their differences by mutual agreement reached through collective bargaining or by such methods as may be provided for in any applicable agreement for the settlement of disputes.

(5) The potential absence of adequate cooperation between public safety employers and employees has implications for the security of employees, impacts the upgrading of police and fire services of local communities, the health and well-being of public safety officers, and the morale of the fire and police departments, and can affect interstate and intrastate commerce.

(6) Many States and localities already provide public safety officers with collective bargaining rights comparable to or greater than the rights and responsibilities set forth in this Act, and such State laws should be respected.

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