Hearing Held On Bargaining Bill

March 10, 2010 – A House Education and Labor Subcommittee held a hearing March 10 on the IAFF’s national collective bargaining bill, HR 413, the Public Safety Employer-Employee Cooperation Act, setting the stage for action in the House.

The Subcommittee heard testimony from five witnesses who backed the measure - including Jim Tate, president of Fort Worth, TX Local 440 - and two representatives from the anti-union National Right to Work Committee and the states’ rights-focused National League of Cities who opposed it.

Tate told the Subcommittee how collective bargaining has improved his department since Fort Worth fire fighters won collective bargaining rights in 2007. He said, "Withholding the right to collectively bargain is a denial of a measure of fairness and dignity to fire fighters who put their lives on the line day in and day out for the communities they serve.” Collective bargaining, Tate testified, has put Fort Worth in a position to become the second contract in Texas to guarantee safe staffing levels.

With a majority of both parties in the last Congress on record supporting the bill, the opposing witnesses were a distinct minority, facing Committee Democrats united in their support and Committee Republicans divided between supporters and opponents. Right to Work spent most of its time blasting unions, claiming that "the ultimate goal of this legislation is to force every fire fighter and police officer in the country under union boss control.” Representative Phil Hare (D-IL) took Right to Work to task for those attacks, calling its language inflammatory and offensive.

Subcommittee Ranking Member Tom Price (R-GA) expressed his strong support for collective bargaining rights for public safety officers, but expressed reservations about whether the federal government should require states to enact such laws. Chair Rob Andrews (D-NJ) countered that Congress has overwhelmingly agreed that HR 413 gives the federal government a limited, reasonable role that preserves state prerogatives. Andrews also recognized the tremendous work of the bill’s prime sponsor and champion Representative Dale Kildee (D-MI) for his determined work on the bill for the last 15 years.

“Today was the first step toward House passage of our national collective bargaining bill. Now it’s only a matter of time until this bill finally passes both houses and becomes law,” says IAFF General President Harold Schaitberger.

A vote in the Committee on Education and Labor is expected in the coming weeks. Click here to watch an archived webcast of the hearing. The bill will be a key issue discussed at the upcoming IAFF Alfred K. Whitehead Legislative Conference in Washington, DC.