Fellow Members,

The article below is pretty accurate concerning collective bargaining. One point I think he down plays is the power unions will have with this collective bargaining bill. Many union leaders in strong states do not realize how little power we have in North Carolina. Now I realize we will not have near the strength they have any law that gives us the right to mediate with our employer is a major step in the right direction. One point he does make that I believe is true is unions competing against one another and spending more time criticizing one another over fighting for police officers. I can assure you I will stay focused on representing our members and I know the Teamsters will do the same. It is extremely important that the rank and file remain united during this transition.

Also, I believe our new evaluation process is being introduced because of this bill. The police department is preparing for collective bargaining and we need to very cautious of how this will be implemented.

There will be a Teamsters Local 391 Meeting this Saturday at 10:00 a.m. at the Teamster Union Hall. Please make every effort to attend.

Thanks for your support.

Rick Armstrong

Tuesday, November 17, 2009
National Collective Bargaining Law Close To Being Passed
H.R. 413 – Public Safety Employer-Employee Cooperation Act of 2009 is close to becoming law. The impact of the law is being greatly overstated by those on both sides of the issue. The truth is that the law is rather benign. About the only requirements are that the employer must talk with the elected employee organizations and that there be some kind of dispute resolution mechanism – not binding arbitration.

What we want to avoid is getting the police and fire in those states all gung ho and acting heavy handedly. If we do, there will be a lot of good people that will experience personal upheaval and anguish as the result of demotions and firings. The League of Cities has their membership convinced that this law is a product of Karl Marx and a direct attack on states rights, capitalism and market economies. You are not going to convince them otherwise, at least not for a long time. Hopefully, the various labor organizations that represent public safety employees will not try to one up each other, by claiming that they can “kick butt” better than the other organizations, but I am afraid that is what will occur. If this event follows the historical route, each major organization will put more effort into castigating the other organizations than helping police officers and firefighter. I hope I am wrong.

Once the law is signed by the President, the Federal Labor Relations Authority will have six months to examine each state’s public safety (police, fire and EMS) collective bargaining law to determine if it meets the minimum requirements of the federal law. If it finds a state’s law to be insufficient it will notify that state that it will have the federal law imposed on it. There is an appeal process for the states. After the appeals process is completed, the law will become effective on the later date of two years from passage or the close of the first legislature session for that state.

The purpose of this drill is to encourage states to either enact or amend their law to comply with the federal law. I would think that the states would get together and come up with a minimum standards law and then have the various legislatures enact it. I do not think that any state really wants the federal government running this operation in their state. I would not want that. However, I doubt if it will go that smoothly. Like most things, there will be lawsuits filed to block or at least delay the law from being implemented. Many of the challenges will be constitutional claims based on some kind of states rights. This will take about three to five years to work its way through the courts.

Currently, there are fifteen states that have no collective bargaining laws for police and several others that have substandard laws – nine Southeastern states, five mountain states, and Indiana. A few of these are down right radical in their hatred of collective bargaining, most notably North Carolina and Virginia. I will be surprised if Jackson, Birmingham, Atlanta, Charlotte and Richmond accept this imposition without a big and bitter fight. Casper and Cheyenne will most likely fight until the last man is shot. Be prepared for what are normally good and decent people in these cities behaving like lunatics. They have and will continue to talk themselves into a frenzy. Eventually, these people will reconcile or pass on, but it may be some time before there is peace.