The Senate would like all firefighters, police officers, and Emergency Medical Technicians to be unionized. To that end, it has proposed legislation known as
the Public Safety Employer-Employee Cooperation Act of 2007. It has already been passed in the house.
The proposed bill, H.R. 980, would mandate the unionization of those aforementioned public sector workers; and if local governments refused to go along, they would be penalized, and the Federal government would impose unionization.
As private sector union membership drops to almost 10%, public sector unions have been increasing their membership roles. Now more than 35% of all public sector workers are unionized. This new bill would dramatically increase that number and give unions a powerful economic weapon for influencing political decisions.
Of course, once public sector employees are unionized, they will be able to go on strike if they don’t like the contracts that are offered to them. It would be a disaster for the public welfare if police, firefighters, and EMTs went on strike.
They are, in effect, a monopoly in all their locales. If they go on strike, there are no other entities to replace them. In the private sector, if one company’s workers go on strike, there are other companies that can fill the void. Not so in the public sector.
President Bush would be wise to veto H. R. 980. In fact, the public safety and welfare depends on him doing so.
