Unionizing Government Employees Should Be a Local Choice
James Sherk /
Despite mounting state budget crises and growing public discontent with government unions, the House of Representatives added the Public Safety Employer-Employee Cooperation Act to the Afghanistan war spending bill. What does this bill have to do with the war or public safety? Nothing.
The bill would be more accurately named the Public Safety Employer Coercion Act. It would force state and local governments to collectively bargain with police officers, firefighters, and emergency personnel—whether or not collective bargaining would improve local public safety. This will directly affect the 21 states that do not already do this and would force states with collective bargaining to rewrite their codes to comply with the federal standard.
A federal mandate would strip away state sovereignty over labor relations. For many states, public sector collective bargaining makes little sense. Under this bill, they would have to do so anyway. (more…)