KEY POINTS

COLLECTIVE BARGAINING

• The Public Safety Employer-Employee Cooperation Act enjoys broad support in Congress. The House version was adopted by a vote of 314 to 97, with a majority of both Republicans and Democrats supporting the bill. The Senate version similarly enjoys strong bipartisan support.

• Fire fighters, police officers, and emergency medical personnel risk their lives every day to protect the public. They deserve the same right to discuss workplace issues with their employer that the federal government already grants to most employees.

• The federal government has a vital interest in improving local emergency response operations through adequate staffing, training, and equipment. The federal government responded to the 9/11 tragedy by creating a network of federal and local emergency response coordination programs facilitated by billions of dollars of federal funding to state and local emergency response agencies. It is clearly within the federal government’s authority to also ensure that front-line responders are able to discuss with their employer how to best provide emergency services.

• The ability of first responders to talk about their jobs with their employers protects the public safety. Collective bargaining has produced measurable staffing, training, equipment, health and safety improvements throughout the nation’s fire departments resulting in safer fire fighters and improved local emergency response capabilities. The fatality rate from fires—for both fire fighters and civilians—is significantly lower in states that permit fire fighters to discuss workplace issues with their employer.

• The bill gives maximum flexibility to states to craft their own laws giving fire fighters and police officers the ability to sit down and talk with their employers. The bill does not require public agencies to agree to anything, and does not empower a third party to compel agencies to do anything it has not explicitly agreed to.

• The bill explicitly protects right-to-work laws. Public safety collective bargaining and right-to-work can and do co-exist. For example, fire fighters currently enjoy collective bargaining rights in right-to-work states, such as: Florida, Oklahoma and Idaho.

• Just as important as what the bill requires, is what it does not require. The bill does not allow public safety officers to strike; does not require binding arbitration to resolve disputes; does not take away authority of states and local jurisdictions to have the final say over all public safety decisions; does not require any specific method to certify unions; does not infringe on the rights of volunteer fire fighters; and does not mandate compulsory unionism.

• The legislation is strongly supported by the International Association of Fire Fighters (IAFF), Fraternal Order of Police (FOP), International Union of Police Associations (IUPA), the National Association of Police Organizations (NAPO), and the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME).