Committee Defeats Police/Fire Monopoly-Bargaining Legislation

With the long-anticipated conclusion of the 111th Congress a few weeks ago, National Right to Work Committee members and supporters achieved a major legislative victory that had seemed a near impossibility at the Congress’s inception in 2009.

Just before Christmas, Congress adjourned without having rubber-stamped Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid’s (D-Nev.) so-called “Public Safety Employer-Employee Cooperation Act” (S.3991).

This was government union bosses’ “top legislative priority” in the 111th Congress, as International Firefighters (IAFF/AFL-CIO) union czar Harold Schaitberger admitted mournfully after the adjournment.

Seasoned Capitol Hill observers had confidently predicted the Reid legislation would pass into law before the end of 2010, and with good reason.

At the outset of the 2009-2010 Congress, the votes were there to pass the bill in both chambers of Congress. Furthermore, President Obama was publicly vowing to sign it as soon as it reached his desk.

The only possible hope of blocking the government union power grab was a Senate filibuster — and mustering the 41 votes needed to sustain one seemed to be a long shot at best.

Nevertheless, from the beginning, Committee members and supporters were ready to fight to the hilt, because the stakes were so high.

‘Already Strong Lobby’ Sought Even More Power

S.3991, referred to unofficially, but accurately, as the Police/Fire Monopoly-Bargaining Bill, would have empowered Federal Labor Relations Authority (FLRA) bureaucrats to survey all 50 states and identify which had failed to meet the legislation’s “core standards.”

And the key “core standard” was mandatory union monopoly bargaining. Localities in all 50 states would have been denied the option to refuse to grant a single public-safety union the power to speak for all front-line employees, including those who didn’t want to join.

Monopoly bargaining, euphemistically labeled as “exclusive representation,” would have been foisted on police, firefighters, and other public-safety employees nationwide. And in most states that already authorize public-safety monopoly bargaining, this legislation would have widened its scope.

As Wall Street Journal reporter Kris Maher noted late last spring, under legislation like S.3991, if any state had refused to institute monopoly bargaining and comply with other mandates, FLRA bureaucrats would have implemented them themselves.

Sen. Reid personally introduced two different versions of the Police/Fire Monopoly-Bargaining Bill. In April 2010, Mr. Reid sponsored S.3194, a bill he could bring to the floor at any time, without any preliminary committee action.

And during the “lame-duck” Senate session late last year, he introduced S.3991, a modest variation on his earlier measure crafted to garner more support through its exemption of sheriffs’ departments from the federal monopoly-bargaining mandate.

Yet another Senate version of the Police Fire Monopoly-Bargaining Bill was sponsored as S.1611 by Big Labor appeaser Judd Gregg (R-N.H.). In the House, union-label Congressman Dale Kildee (D-Mich.) introduced companion legislation as H.R.413.

In all its guises, the police/fire monopoly-bargaining legislation was a budget-busting power grab. In an astute editorial last June, the Washington Post summed up why this scheme was so dangerous:

“What this bill would do is impose a permanent, one-size-fits-all federal solution in an area — public-sector labor relations — that has traditionally been left to the states, and where state flexibility is probably more necessary than ever.

“. . . The bill further empowers an already strong lobby . . . .”

Harry Reid Nearly Succeeded Because of GOP Collaborators

Of course, Mr. Reid wasn’t troubled by the intense damage S.3194 and S.3991 would do to taxpayers or by how they would ravage state sovereignty.

The bottom line for him was that this legislation would empower and enrich union officials who are one the Democratic Party’s “most important constituencies,” as the editors of the New York-based biweekly National Review put it.

However, Democratic politicians, despite controlling the White House and substantial majorities in both chambers of Congress, were never expected last year to make the Police/Fire Monopoly-Bargaining Bill, in any of its versions, the law of the land all on their own.

Since GOP Sen. Scott Brown (Mass.) took office last February, there were never more than 59 senators in Mr. Reid’s majority caucus. But it takes 60 to bring up a piece of legislation for a final vote if opponents seek to block it by launching an extended debate.

The reason Mr. Reid nearly succeeded last summer in making his pet scheme the law of the land was because six out of the 41 GOP senators were sponsoring S.1611, monopoly-bargaining legislation virtually identical to the Reid bill.

Last July 1, the House monopoly-bargaining legislation sailed through the lower chamber as an amendment to H.R.4899, a massive, unrelated defense spending bill. Union strategists eagerly anticipated the Senate passing the whole measure later that month.

All-Out Right to Work Mobilization Stalled Union Lobbying Blitz

But then, for several weeks in July, freedom-loving Americans mobilized by the National Right to Work Committee contacted their senators again and again, urging them to oppose H.R.4899 on all votes unless and until the public-safety union monopoly-bargaining amendment was removed.

Firefighters union boss Schaitberger personally expressed alarm in an e-mail to union operatives that the “National Right to Work Committee” was “working the phones.”

Several organizations representing the interests of local governments and public-safety departments, such as the National Sheriffs’ Association, joined with the Committee in lobbying against the forced-unionism sneak play.

The message clearly got through to a number of senators who normally vote with Big Labor, but were getting antsier and antsier about their next election.

On the evening of July 22, the Senate voted down the House-passed version of H.R.4899, and then approved a war-spending bill without the monopoly-bargaining provision. Finally, on July 27, a chastened House acquiesced to the Senate’s action, and sent a stripped-down war supplemental to President Obama’s desk.

Of course, Harry Reid didn’t give up at that point, or even after voters ousted two Senate proponents of federally mandated public-safety union monopoly bargaining, Blanche Lincoln (D-Ark.) and Russ Feingold (D-Wisc.), replacing them with 100% Right to Work supporters, in the November 2 general elections.

Right to Work Supporters Continued Turning up the Pressure on ‘Lame Ducks’

On December 8, the “lame-duck” Senate voted on Mr. Reid’s cloture motion to cut off debate by Right to Work proponents so that S.3991, his latest version of the police/fire union power grab, could get the Senate green light, then race through the House and go to President Obama’s desk.

But, thanks once again to intense grass-roots lobbying efforts by Right to Work supporters, Mr. Reid came up five votes short of the 60 he needed to achieve cloture, with three Senate Democrats and half-a-dozen Republicans who had previously supported the legislation voting “No.”

“Right to Work members and supporters nationwide never let down their guard until the 111th Congress adjourned for good on December 22,” observed Committee President Mark Mix. “That is how they pulled off a remarkable victory for independent-minded public servants and taxpayers.”

Public-Safety Union Monopoly Undercuts California Law Enforcement

On Tuesday, July 13, Oakland, Calif., became a friendlier place for burglars, embezzlers, car thieves, bad-check passers, extortionists, and an array of other criminals.

That afternoon, Oakland, a major West Coast port city with roughly 400,000 residents, laid off 80 police officers, or 10% of its force, to help eliminate a budget deficit of over $30 million. In response, the city police department implemented a new policy in which officers aren’t being dispatched to take reports for 44 “lower priority” crimes.

Oaklanders whose homes or vehicles are burglarized must now go online or visit a police station to file reports. However, the police department warns them that, even if they do: “There will be no follow-up investigation, and the primary reason for filing the report is for insurance purposes.”

Why is the city recently reported to have the fourth highest violent crime rate in the country slashing the number of cops it employs? Some observers are blaming the recent national recession, which hit California especially hard.

But despite the recession-induced decline in Oakland’s tax revenues over the past couple of years, city officials could still have avoided laying off police this summer — if their hands weren’t tied by California labor policies that promote monopolistic unionism in the public sector.

Decades ago, Big Labor California politicians rubber-stamped legislation forcing local police departments to allow the agents of a single union to speak for all the police on their force, including those who haven’t joined the union and want nothing to do with it, on matters of pay, benefits, and work rules.

Government Union Bosses Prefer Service Cutbacks To Other Alternatives

The same union monopoly-bargaining system was foisted on California fire departments, school districts, prisons, and other government agencies.

As a consequence of government union bosses’ special privileges, California elected officials who face fiscal crises must get Big Labor’s permission before they can attempt to get their budgets back in order by changing the way employees are compensated.

For example, in Oakland, like in many other California jurisdictions, government union-promoted work rules make it almost impossible for police supervisors to schedule officers to work when and where they are needed during their regular eight-hour shifts.

Consequently, local taxpayers rack up enormous overtime costs.

Changing Big Labor scheduling restrictions and other work rules could easily have reduced the Oakland police department’s compensation expenses by as much as laying off 10% of the force does.

However, police union bosses rejected all proposals that would have resulted in a significant net reduction in taxpayers’ compensation costs, making layoffs unavoidable.

“When times are bad, government union bosses generally prefer layoffs that reduce services to other alternatives, partly because they know the layoffs will, very likely, only be temporary,” commented National Right to Work Committee Vice President Matthew Leen. “Consequently, structural problems never get resolved.”

Will U.S. Congress Make Matters Worse?

“That Californians have to deal with this is bad enough,” Mr. Leen continued.

“But incredibly, just as Golden State Congressman Brad Sherman [D] wants to foist private-sector forced union dues on all 50 states [see p. 5 for details], other Big Labor politicians are eager to federalize the public-sector union monopolies that are dragging California cities down.

“Their vehicle is S.3194/H.R.413, sponsored by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid [D-Nev.] and union-label Congressman Dale Kildee [D-Mich.]. Unless it is stopped, this legislation could bring Oakland’s woes to other cities across America.”

For more information on S.3194/H.R.413, the Police/Fire Monopoly-Bargaining Bill, see pp. 1-2.

(Source: July 2010 NRTWC Newsletter)

Just before the U.S. Congress adjourned for a week-long Independence Day recess, Big Labor House members rubber-stamped legislation that would federally impose union monopoly bargaining over state and local public-safety employees.

The legislation (H.R.413), cynically mislabeled as the “Public Safety Employer-Employee Cooperation Act,” would, at a time when government budget deficits are already sky high, hobble the ability of states and localities to keep their expenditures of taxpayer dollars under control.

Incredibly, the House voted July 1 to attach this scheme to a massive spending bill that provides funding for U.S. troops. The Senate is expected to take up this war supplemental bill, with H.R.413 attached, some time this month.

H.R.413 would empower Federal Labor Relations Authority (FLRA) bureaucrats to survey all 50 states and identify which have failed to meet the legislation’s “core standards.”

And the key “core standard” is mandatory union monopoly bargaining. Localities in all 50 states would be denied the option to refuse to grant a single public-safety union the power to speak for all front-line employees, including those who don’t want to join.

Bill ‘Further Empowers An Already Strong Lobby’

Monopoly bargaining, euphemistically labeled as “exclusive representation,” would be foisted on police, firefighters, and other public-safety employees nationwide. And in most states that already authorize public-safety union monopoly bargaining, H.R.413 would widen its scope.

As Wall Street Journal reporter Kris Maher recently noted, under this legislation, if any state refused to institute monopoly bargaining and comply with other mandates, FLRA bureaucrats “would step in and implement” them themselves.

A wide spectrum of political observers, inside the D.C. Beltway and around the country, have blasted H.R.413 and its Senate companion, S.3194, sponsored by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.), as a budget-busting power grab.

For example, last month both the liberal Washington Post and the conservative National Review ran editorials urging Congress to block H.R.413/S.3194.

“What this bill would do,” charged the Post’s editors, “is impose a permanent, one-size-fits-all federal solution in an area — public-sector labor relations — that has traditionally been left to the states, and where state flexibility is probably more necessary than ever. . . . The bill further empowers an already strong lobby . . . .”

The editors of National Review (online edition) were even more forthright:

“Government employees’ unions already maintain a death grip on the finances of most state and local governments, and a remarkably bad piece of legislation — the Public Safety Employer-Employee Cooperation Act — threatens to tighten that stranglehold . . . .”

Of course, the fact that liberal, conservative and moderate analysts recognize H.R.413/S.3194 as bad in principle and extraordinarily ill-timed doesn’t trouble Mr. Reid and union-label Democratic Congressman Dale Kildee (Mich.), the lead sponsor of the House legislation.

Harry Reid Cannot Prevail Without GOP Collaborators

The bottom line for them is that their legislation would empower and enrich union officials who are one of the Democratic Party’s “most important constituencies,” as National Review’s editors put it.

However, Democratic politicians, despite controlling the White House and substantial majorities in both chambers of Congress, cannot make Kildee-Reid the law of the land all on their own.

At this writing, due to the death late last month of Sen. Robert Byrd (D-W.Va.), Mr. Reid’s majority caucus consists of 58 senators, 56 Democrats plus pro-forced unionism “Independents” Joe Lieberman (Conn.) and Bernie Sanders (Vt.).

But, regardless of the total number of senators at any time, it takes 60 to bring up a piece of legislation for a final vote if opponents seek to block it by launching an extended debate.

And the National Right to Work Committee, which is leading the opposition to Kildee-Reid on Capitol Hill, and its Senate allies already have a plan in place to sustain an extended debate against this legislation.

That’s why Harry Reid must pick up several GOP votes, while holding on to the votes of several Democrats from strong Right to Work states, in order to ram H.R.413 through the Senate.

“At this time, six GOP senators are sponsoring S.1611, monopoly-bargaining legislation that is virtually identical to the Reid bill,” noted Right to Work President Mark Mix.

“To thwart the federalization of union monopoly control over public-safety officers, Right to Work supporters must convince at least three of these senators to back away from their support for this scheme, and also convince at least two or three Democrats to oppose H.R.413.

“One Senate Democrat, North Carolina’s Kay Hagan, has already said publicly she will oppose the Police/Fire Monopoly-Bargaining Bill, even though she usually votes with Big Labor. She reiterated her opposition just last month.”

History Shows Appeasement Won’t Insulate GOP Politicians

“Committee leaders are hopeful that, if pro-Right to Work constituents keep raising the pressure, they can ensure that Ms. Hagan keeps her word, and that a couple of other Democrats join her in opposing H.R.413,” Mr. Mix continued.

“But that won’t be enough to defeat the Kildee-Reid bill unless several would-be GOP appeasers of Big Labor reconsider their support for expanding government union bosses’ monopoly privileges.

“Right now, freedom-loving constituents are turning up the heat on all six GOP sponsors of S.1611, especially Sens. Scott Brown [Mass.], Mike Johanns [Neb.], and Lisa Murkowski [Alaska].

“Right to Work supporters are also reminding these senators that, in 2008 alone, four GOP senators who had tried to appease Big Labor by cosponsoring the 2007-2008 version of the Police/Fire Monopoly-Bargaining Bill were tossed out by their constituents.

“History shows forced-unionism appeasement won’t insulate politicians from Big Labor attacks — but will anger their constituents.”

Bill Would Pave Way For Union Monopoly Control Over All Public Employees

Mr. Mix acknowledged that Right to Work supporters face an uphill battle to block H.R.413 in the Senate. But this power grab is so dangerous, he added, that Committee members must do everything possible to stop it.

“Kildee/Reid would constitute a major step towards Big Labor’s decades-old goal of enacting a federal law that foists union monopoly bargaining on front-line state and local employees of all types across America.

“As union bigwig Anna Burger, head of the ‘Change to Win’ union conglomerate, recently boasted, H.R.413/S.3194 would ‘create a national collective,’ i.e., monopoly, ‘bargaining standard for all public workers.’

“In other words, if Congress federalizes union monopoly control over public-safety employees, the federalization of union monopoly bargaining over teachers, and state and local public servants of every other kind, will be next.

“Enactment of H.R.413/S.3194 would deal a harsh blow to the Right to Work cause. I know Committee members and supporters across the country understand that fact, and will do all they can to stop this legislation.”

Refusal to Respond to Right to Work Survey ‘Raised Concerns’

Just a few months ago, Kentucky Secretary of State Trey Grayson was widely considered the favorite to win the GOP nomination this year for the U.S. Senate seat now held by pro-Right to Work Republican Jim Bunning, who is retiring after two terms.

A number of pundits contended that the strong support of Mitch McConnell, Kentucky’s senior U.S. senator and the head of the GOP minority in the upper chamber of Congress, would practically guarantee Mr. Grayson’s nomination.

However, the Grayson campaign made serious misjudgments during the final weeks before Kentucky’s May 18 primaries.

Most important to pro-Right to Work Kentuckians, Mr. Grayson refused to pledge to oppose several of the top power grabs now being advanced on Capitol Hill by Organized Labor, the #1 pro-Big Government special-interest group in America today.

More broadly, many voters who were deeply concerned about the rapid growth in federal spending under the George W. Bush Administration as well as under the current one became convinced Mr. Grayson lacked the intestinal fortitude to fight to reduce spending from its current stratospheric level.

‘Any Genuine Opponent of Big Government Would Eagerly Oppose’ Police/Fire Scheme

“One of the top items on Congress’s agenda this year is an intrusive federal mandate that would impair the ability of states and localities to keep their expenditures of taxpayer dollars under control,” noted National Right to Work Committee President Mark Mix.

“Any genuine opponent of Big Government would eagerly oppose this scheme, union bosses’ Police/Fire Monopoly-Bargaining Bill [S.3194/H.R.413].

“Yet Trey Grayson refused to say a word against this destructive legislation, despite the fact that thousands and thousands of Committee members and supporters in Kentucky asked him to do so, time and time again.

“And his silence was especially disturbing because a handful of Senate Republicans are already publicly supporting the Police/Fire Monopoly-Bargaining Bill. Even one more could potentially make the difference.

“Fortunately, in this election Kentucky primary voters had several other candidates to choose from who pledged to oppose public-safety union monopoly bargaining and support Right to Work 100%. And one of them, opthamologist Rand Paul, was a top-tier candidate.”

In the end, Mr. Paul, who had started out the primary campaign as the distinct underdog, soundly defeated Mr. Grayson by a whopping 59% to 35% margin.

Big Government Is Big Labor’s ‘Bread and Butter’

By handing Mr. Paul a decisive victory, Kentucky primary voters sent a clear message to Capitol Hill Republicans that they want candidates who really will fight against the expansion of forced unionism and the increased cost of Big Government it brings, and not just mouth “feel good” rhetoric about this serious and rapidly growing problem.

“Trey Grayson’s refusal to respond to his Right to Work candidate survey this year, especially to the questions concerning public-sector forced unionism, clearly raised concerns that he was going to be just another ‘Big Government Republican,’” observed Mr. Mix.

“Kentucky voters were right to be concerned.

“Over the course of the past few decades, public servants, especially state and local public employees, have become Big Labor’s bread and butter.

“By 2009, union officials wielded monopoly-bargaining power over 7.5 million state and local employees, nearly 43% of all such employees nationwide, compared to just 8% of private-sector workers.

“Moreover, for many years now, Big Labor featherbedding and counterproductive work rules have sharply increased real taxpayer costs for compensation of state and local government employees.

“In fact, from 1998 to 2008 alone, taxpayers’ aggregate real costs for compensation of state and local government employees soared at a rate nearly 50% faster than the total real growth of private-sector employee compensation!”

Mr. Mix continued: “S.3194 and H.R.413, sponsored, respectively, by Big Labor Democratic Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and union-label Michigan Democratic Congressman Dale Kildee, would sock it to taxpayers again.

“This legislation would impose a new federal mandate ensuring that government union bosses get monopoly-bargaining privileges over additional hundreds of thousands of state and local public-safety employees.

“And the reason it is now on the verge of passage is that a handful of Senate Republicans are siding with Mr. Reid. In the House as well, a minority of Republicans, along with practically all Democrats, are in favor of the monopoly-bargaining bill.

“But scientific polls and multiple election results show that citizens across America overwhelmingly oppose public-sector union monopoly bargaining.

“The stinging defeat Trey Grayson suffered in Kentucky, after the Committee had notified hundreds of thousands of citizens through the mail and the Internet about his pointed refusal to oppose Reid/Kildee, is only the latest example.

“I’m cautiously optimistic the Kentucky election results will serve as a wake-up call for the D.C. establishment regarding just how deeply unpopular the Reid/Kildee legislation is.”

System That Congress Wants To Expand Is Currently Bankrupting Los Angeles

Reid-Kildee would federally impose union monopoly bargaining by denying localities the option to refuse to grant a single public-safety union the power to speak for all front-line employees, including those who don’t want to join.

Monopoly bargaining, euphemistically labeled as “exclusive representation,” would be foisted on state and local police, firefighters, and other public-safety employees nationwide.

And in most states that already authorize public-safety union monopoly bargaining, S.3194/H.R.413 would widen its scope.

“In every political jurisdiction, public spending tends to grow faster than taxpayers’ incomes, rendering government costs more and more burdensome over time. But decades of experience shows public-sector monopoly bargaining greatly exacerbates this problem,” Mr. Mix commented.

“For example, this summer the skyrocketing costs of public-safety monopoly bargaining are frighteningly close to driving the once-great city of Los Angeles into insolvency. L.A. Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa [D], himself a former union organizer, has acknowledged the real possibility.

“Congress must not federalize the very system that is now bankrupting Los Angeles. It’s just that simple.”

(Source: April 2010 NRTWC Newsletter)

Over the course of the past few decades, public servants, especially state and local government employees, have become Big Labor’s bread and butter.

By 2009, union officials wielded monopoly-bargaining power over 7.5 million state and local employees, nearly 43% of all such employees nationwide, compared to just 8% of private-sector workers.

Moreover, for many years now, Big Labor featherbedding and counterproductive work rules have sharply increased real taxpayer costs for compensation of state and local government employees.

In fact, from 1998 to 2008 alone, taxpayers’ aggregate real costs for compensation of state and local government employees soared at a rate nearly 50% faster than the total real growth of private-sector employee compensation!

And now, incredibly, the Big Labor Congress is poised to sock it to taxpayers again.

This spring, the U.S. House and Senate are on the verge of rubber-stamping a new federal mandate ensuring that public-sector union bosses get monopoly-bargaining privileges over additional hundreds of thousands of state and local public-safety employees.

Kildee-Gregg Would Pave Way For Dragooning All State, Local Employees Into Unions

This federal mandate (H.R.413 and S.1611), respectively introduced in the House and Senate by Big Labor Congressman Dale Kildee (D-Mich.) and Big Labor-appeasing Sen. Judd Gregg (R-N.H.), goes by an innocent-sounding moniker, the “Public Safety Employer-Employee Cooperation Act.”

But this label mocks the reality that the legislation would incite conflict between government agencies and employees and hurt taxpayers.

H.R.413/S.1611 would institute a federal mandate foisting union “exclusive representation” (monopoly bargaining) on state and local police, firefighters, and other public-safety employees nationwide.

This legislation would rewrite the public-sector labor laws of the vast majority of the 50 states to make them more pro-forced unionism.

In states that haven’t caved in to Big Labor demands for monopoly bargaining, Kildee-Gregg would federally impose it, denying localities the option to refuse to grant a single union the power to speak for all front-line employees, including those who don’t want to join.

And in most states that already authorize public-safety union monopoly bargaining, H.R.413/S.1611 would widen its scope.

Kildee-Gregg would force countless policemen, firefighters and EMT’s to accept as their monopoly-bargaining agent a union they never voted for, and want nothing to do with.

It would also constitute a major step towards Big Labor’s decades-old goal of enacting a federal law that foists union monopoly bargaining on front-line state and local employees of all types across America.

States With Heaviest Public-Sector Unionization Have Higher Taxes, More Debt

“The record shows that pervasive unionization of government employees is closely associated with higher taxes and more public debt,” said National Right to Work Committee President Mark Mix.

“Therefore, enactment of federal police/fire monopoly-bargaining legislation would almost certainly lead to tax hikes in state after state.

“In 2008, while 40.7% of all government employees, federal, state and local, nationwide were unionized, public-sector unionization was 60% or more in seven states.

“That year, residents of those Big Labor-controlled states had to fork over, on average, a 22% higher share of their income in state and local taxes than did the residents of states with below-average public-sector unionization.

“Moreover, in Fiscal 2008, eight of the 10 states with the most long-term debt as a share of their personal income had public-sector unionization higher than 50%.

“Meanwhile, every one of the 10 states with the least long-term debt as a share of personal income had public-sector unionization below the national average.

“In five of these least indebted states, public-sector unionization was less than half the national average!

“Federal personal and business taxes are already poised to skyrocket over the next few years. Cities, towns and counties across America are facing their worst fiscal crisis in decades.

“And yet, our out-of-touch Congress seems eager to pass legislation that would greatly compound the damage. Even in Washington, D.C., this degree of recklessness is unusual.”

Big Labor Scheme Expected to Sail Through House Within The Next Few Weeks

Recently, top bosses of the International Association of Firefighters (IAFF) and other public-safety unions that are leading the charge for H.R.413/S.1611 have boasted of their intent to ram H.R.413 through the House during the next few weeks.

And Big Labor’s control over the lower chamber is so tight that Right to Work members can only slow down this legislation there.

However, freedom-loving Americans still have a chance of blocking Kildee-Gregg in the Senate.

“This will, without a doubt, be an uphill fight,” commented Mr. Mix. “Part of the reason why is that Judd Gregg and a few other Republican senators are colluding with the Democratic congressional leadership and the Obama Administration to make sure Kildee-Gregg gets rubber-stamped.

“Right to Work advocates’ only chance of victory is to prevent this bill from coming up for a final Senate vote by mobilizing at least 41 senators to sustain an extended debate for as long as necessary.”

To Prevail, Right to Work Will Need to Switch Over a Handful of Senators’ Votes

“To prevail in this fight,” Mr. Mix continued, “the Committee will almost certainly need to switch over the votes of a handful of senators who habitually vote according to the union bosses’ dictates.”

Among the top lobbying targets he cited are Virginia Sens. Jim Webb (D) and Mark Warner (D) and North Carolina Sen. Kay Hagan (D).

“While Sens. Webb, Warner and Hagan all tend to vote how Big Labor tells them to, they also represent two states that have longstanding laws, with bipartisan support, that explicitly ban all union monopoly bargaining over state and local government employees,” Mr. Mix explained.

“If we can convince these three senators and just a few others to support the Right to Work in this one instance, Kildee-Gregg can still be thwarted this year.”

(Source: March 2010 NRTWC Newsletter)

Poll after poll indicates that union-label Democratic U.S. Sen. Blanche Lincoln faces a tough battle to get reelected in Right to Work Arkansas this November.

And Ms. Lincoln clearly knows she has a problem.

That’s why she’s now suggesting to independent employees and employers in her home state that, although she has routinely voted according to Big Labor’s dictates on key forced-unionism issues during her nearly two decades on Capitol Hill, she is now an “independent” voice on such issues.

Freedom-loving Arkansans shouldn’t believe it for a minute.

First of all, even if Ms. Lincoln were consistently opposing compulsory unionism in the current Congress, Arkansas Right to Work supporters would have good reason to doubt she would continue to stand up to the union bosses once she was safely installed for another six-year term.

And the fact is, even in the current Congress, while she is trailing several potential pro-Right to Work general election opponents, Ms. Lincoln continues to support major forced-unionism power grabs whenever she thinks she can get away with it.

Gregg-Kildee Would Pave Way For Dragging All State, Local Employees Into Unions

One major example is Ms. Lincoln’s stealth move just before the Senate’s Christmas recess last year to sign on as a cosponsor of Big Labor-appeasing New Hampshire Sen. Judd Gregg’s (R) S.1611, the so-called “Public Safety Employer-Employee Cooperation Act.”

The innocent-sounding name of this legislation (also introduced in the U.S. House as H.R.413 by Big Labor Michigan Democrat Congressman Dale Kildee) mocks the reality that it would incite conflict between government agencies and employees and hurt taxpayers.

S.1611/H.R.413 would institute a federal mandate foisting union “exclusive representation” (monopoly bargaining) on state and local police, firefighters, and other public-safety employees nationwide.

This legislation would rewrite the public-sector labor laws of the vast majority of the 50 states to make them more pro-forced unionism.

In Arkansas and other states that haven’t caved in to Big Labor demands for monopoly bargaining, Gregg-Kildee would federally impose it, denying localities the option to refuse to grant a single union the power to speak for all front-line employees, including those who don’t want to join.

And in most states that already authorize public-safety union monopoly bargaining, S.1611/H.R.413 would widen its scope.

Gregg-Kildee would force countless policemen, firefighters and EMT’s to accept as their monopoly-bargaining agent a union they never voted for, and want nothing to do with.

It would also constitute a major step towards Big Labor’s decades-old goal of enacting a federal law that foists union monopoly bargaining on front-line state and local employees of all types across America.

Mark Mix Presses Sen. Lincoln to Withdraw Cosponsorship of S.1611

“Poll after poll shows the public overwhelmingly agrees that a worker who chooses not to join a union should be free as an individual to bargain for himself or herself,” pointed out National Right to Work Committee President Mark Mix.

“Gregg-Kildee completely rejects that principle. For that reason alone, it lacks popular support.

“Moreover, there is a large and growing body of evidence that public-sector union monopoly bargaining helps drive up wasteful government spending, pouring fuel on the fire for future tax hikes.

“In the current political environment, with federal personal and business taxes already poised to skyrocket over the next few years and cities, towns and counties across America already facing their worst fiscal crisis in decades, popular opposition to schemes like Gregg-Kildee is mounting.

“By mandating public-safety union monopoly bargaining over a range of issues even wider than is currently the case in Big Labor-controlled states like Illinois and Michigan, this power grab could push localities across the country into bankruptcy.

“Does Congress as a whole, and do so-called ‘moderate’ politicians like Blanche Lincoln, really want to bear the responsibility for such a disastrous outcome?

“If Sen. Lincoln wants at last to make her vaunted ‘independence’ a reality, rather than just a hollow campaign slogan, the first thing she should do is withdraw her cosponsorship of S.1611.”

Mr. Mix urged freedom-loving Arkansans to call Ms. Lincoln’s office at 202-224-4843 and personally ask her to repudiate her support for the Gregg-Kildee scheme.

(Source: January 2010 NRTWC Newsletter)

It is growing very clear that Big Labor politicians know the American people do not support their scheme to establish a new federal mandate imposing union “exclusive representation” (monopoly bargaining) over state and local police, firefighters, and other public-safety employees nationwide. Jus t be fore the U.S. House adjourned last month, forced-unionism cheerleader Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and her cohorts plotted to sneak this legislation through their chamber while attracting as little public attention as possible.

Behind the scenes, Ms. Pelosi, Big Labor Congressman Dale Kildee (D-Mich.), and others worked on a plan to tack Mr. Kildee’s House version of the Police/Fire Monopoly-Bargaining Bill (H.R.413) onto H.R.3326, the Fiscal Year (FY) 2010 Department of Defense Appropriations Bill.

And Ms. Pelosi, Mr. Kildee et al probably would have succeeded in securing a House rubber-stamp for a huge expansion of union bosses’ monopoly privileges without facing major resistance – but for the efforts of the National Right to Work Committee and its allies on Capitol Hill.

Committee Staff Alerted Leaders of Allied Groups

On December 14, within just hours of learning from a key Capitol Hill source that Big Labor House leaders were preparing to bring up H.R.413 as an amendment to H.R.3326, Committee legislative officers began sending faxes and e-mails and making personal visits to key Capitol Hill offices.

Right to Work staff also alerted leaders of several organizations representing the interests of local governments and public-safety departments, such as the National Sheriffs’ Association (NSA), that is also opposed to H.R.413 and its U.S. Senate counterpart, S.1611.

House members from key swing districts who were already edgy as a result of the intense public controversy over ObamaCare thus began receiving calls and e-mails from an array of groups urging them to resist all efforts to attach the monopoly-bargaining bill to the defense spending measure.

Moreover, congressmen and their staff members certainly knew from previous showdowns over forced unionism legislation that, if H.R.3326 emerged with a monopoly-bargaining amendment, their offices would quickly be flooded with calls from Right to Work members mobilized by the Committee’s phone operation.

And on Wednesday, December 16, it became clear that Speaker Pelosi and co. had decided to heed, for the moment, concerned congressmen when H.R.3326 was formally introduced without the public-safety monopoly bargaining provision.

Vast Majority of Americans Reject Monopoly Bargaining

Of course, Big Labor House leaders are virtually certain to try again early this year to smuggle H.R.413 through their chamber. And there are still several pending FY 2010 appropriations bills to which this destructive measure could be attached. H.R.413 and the nearly identical S.1611 would force countless policemen, firefighters and EMT’s to accept as their monopoly-bargaining agent a union they personally never voted for, and want nothing to do with.

Moreover, H.R.413 and S.1611 do NOT protect the Right To Work without being forced to pay union dues or fees either of the public-safety employees upon whom Congress is imposing a union monopoly, or of the public-safety employees who are already subject to one.

“Americans overwhelmingly oppose monopoly bargaining, period,” noted Committee President Mark Mix. “The public certainly has no interest in backing legislation designed to help Big Labor grab monopoly-bargaining privileges over hundreds of thousands of additional employees.”

Mr. Mix cited a recent scientific nationwide survey conducted by veteran pollster Del Ali and his firm Research 2000. The poll found that 81% of Americans who regularly vote in statewide elections believe that employees in unionized businesses should retain the right to bargain for themselves. Just 17% of regular voters believe employees should not have that right, while 2% are unsure.

“Forcing union nonmembers to accept public-safety union officials as their monopoly-bargaining agent is what H.R.413 and S.1611 are all about,” explained Mr. Mix. “Any state law or local ordinance authorizing public-safety union bosses to bargain on behalf of their members only would get tossed in the scrapheap if either measure became law.”

And government union bosses actually see this legislation as just a first step toward enactment of a federal mandate corralling state and local employees of all kinds into unions. “H.R.413 simply can’t withstand public scrutiny. And Nancy Pelosi knows it.”

Big Labor-Appeasing West Virginia GOP Congresswoman ‘Should Heed Her Own Mayor’

Mr. Mix continued: “Federalizing union monopoly control over public safety employees would be ill-advised at any time, but at a time when taxes are already poised to skyrocket and cities and towns across America are already facing their worst fiscal crisis in decades, enactment of H.R.413 would be incredibly reckless.”

Pervasive public-sector union monopoly bargaining helps government union bosses build up giant political machines, which in most cases are fueled by workers’ compulsory union dues and fees. “

Government union officials use their electoral machines to bankroll Tax-and-Spend state legislative and executive politicians. And the onerous taxes such politicians foist on families and businesses sharply suppress job and income growth.

“Responsible local elected officials across the country have recognized the danger and are urging Congress to defeat H.R.413 and S.1611.”

For example, just this past November, Danny Jones, the mayor of Charleston, W.Va., publicly expressed his concern that this legislation could “bankrupt” his city. In an interview with Charleston’s Daily Mail, Mr. Jones starkly predicted of H.R.413/S.1611: “It’s going to change things. The relationship [between the city and the police union] will become adversarial. “. . . If you look around the states, the most unionized states are the ones that are most broke.”

“Unfortunately,” noted Mr. Mix, virtually every Democrat in Congress and dozens of Republicans are choosing to back the Police/Fire Monopoly- Bargaining Bill in spite of what concerned mayors, city council members, and public-safety officials have to say. “For example, West Virginia GOP Congresswoman Shelley Moore Capito, who resides in Charleston when she isn’t in Washington, is a cosponsor of the very bill her hometown mayor charges could bankrupt their city.”

Ms. Capito should heed her own mayor and withdraw her support for H.R.413 immediately.”

Right to Work Committee And Its Members Will Keep Turning up the Heat

“Enactment of H.R.413 or S.1611 would be disastrous, not just for independent-minded public-safety officers and Right to Work advocates, but also for taxpayers and citizens who depend on their local police and fire departments,” Mr. Mix continued. “That’s why the National Right to Work Committee and its members can’t afford to rest on our laurels for a minute. We will keep turning up the heat in preparation for the next Capitol Hill showdown over H.R.413/S.1611.

“I urge all Right to Work members to maintain and expand their support, both lobbying and financial, for our campaign. Working together, we can stop the federalization of public-safety monopoly bargaining in 2010.”