Mark Mix says the last thing state and local governments under increasing budget pressures need is a federal mandate that would force police officers, firefighters and emergency medical technicians into union bargaining contracts.
Replica Omega Watches Mix, president of the National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation, also serves as president of the National Right to Work Committee, a 2.2-million-member public policy organization. We spoke by phone Monday as a bill to bring first responders under federal control awaited a Senate vote.
Q: The Public Safety Employer-Employee Cooperation Act being pushed by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) would require all states to give police and fire unions "adequate" collective bargaining rights. What does that mean?
A: If this bill passes in its current form, the federal government will survey all 50 states and once they have completed this survey, they will issue a list of states that either are complying or deficient in the so-called core labor standards of this bill.
And the first of those core labor standards is they must allow people to join unions, which is totally irrelevant because that right has been protected since the early 1960s. It's not a question of whether or not anyone has the right to join a union. Every police officer and firefighter in America can join whatever union they want.
The question is ... does the state allow for union monopoly representation of firefighters? And at this point 26 states do not and they will be found wanting under this bill. The state legislature can pass a bill within the next year ... that basically qualifies under these core labor standards dictated by the federal government.
If they don't, then the federal government will impose them on the state.
Q: For small towns and boroughs with part-time police and volunteer fire departments, what kind of havoc could this wreak?
A: We think significant. ... If you called the head of the International Association of Firefighters, he would agree that these are wholly state employees or a subdivision thereof. There is no federal jurisdiction over these employees. This is a state sovereignty question, clear and simple. This is about forcing the state to recognize unions for purposes of bargaining.
And you look at cities like Vallejo, Calif. -- that's the city that filed bankruptcy. I think 79 percent of their entire spending program was to salaries, pension benefits and other benefits for those government employees. And one of the things that Vallejo said was there's no way we can survive as a city unless we can void these contracts and go back to some modicum of control of our personnel costs.
We see that problem exploding across the country with the passage of this bill. It may explode anyway as we see more cities, more counties feeling the brunt of the economic turndown.
Q: So if this passes, we're looking at tax hikes or some other way to pay for it?
A: I would think that's right. The bill requires that you have some type of arbitration process for solving impasses. Here's a perfect example in Iowa. Back during the Terry Branstad years ... the state had some bargaining laws as it relates to state employees. And at one point, I think it was 1991, '92, ... there was an impasse on contract negotiations and it went to arbitration.
Jimmy shoes The law provided for binding arbitration and the arbitrator flew in frReplica Watches
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