House Passes Collective Bargaining Bill
The IAFF's top legislative priority, the Public Safety Employer-Employee Cooperation Act of 2007 -- which guarantees collective bargaining rights for every fire fighter in the nation -- has overwhelmingly passed the U.S. House of Representatives.
The bill, HR 980, won the support of a majority of the Repiblicans and Democrats in Congress, passing by a margin of 314-97.
“For more than 50 years, the IAFF has battled to guarantee every professional fire fighter the right to collectively bargain,” says IAFF General President Harold Schaitberger. “This is just the first step, but it's truly an historic moment for our union.”
HR 980 assures four basic rights: the right to organize and form a union and be recognized as the exclusive representative for employees within a specific fire department; the right to bargain with respective public employers over wages and other terms and conditions of employment; the right to have a neutral third party assist in mediating any disputed issues; and the right to reduce negotiated agreements into binding, legally enforceable contracts.
Thanks to the IAFF’s aggressive grassroots efforts, HR 980 garnered 280 cosponsors, including 70 Republicans. Only 12 of the more than 2,900 bills introduced in this Congress have attained a congressional majority – 218 members – as cosponsors. “Clearly, our grassroots operation -- the calls from our members in the field -- succeeded in elevating this issue and generating support across all parties in the House,” Schaitberger notes.
The IAFF will now focus its efforts in the Senate and, ultimately, on lobbying the president to sign the bill into law when it reaches his desk.
For more information on HR 980, click here.
7 comments:
This is really cool, but there is no way that our Blunderer in Chief, George W. Bush, will sign this bill. He has a long and sordid history of fighting against firefighters and firefighter issues his entire political career, so I seriously doubt he will allow this to go through. To those firefighters that voted for George W. Bush, you obviously don't care about your job, because if you did care about your job, you would have done your homework on this nut before you voted for him. I hope it passes the senate veto-proof, but I doubt it.
Well, I would veto it too if you called me a "repiblican."
Name calling has no place in politics.
what kind of stuff goes along with this bill. Are they building any bridges to nowhere or something else that is a waste of money.
Hey roanokefound,
What is a Repiblican, and who called anyone that name?
The stock market finished at an all time high AGAIN today 4th time in a year. Yeah i care about my job and i care about what goes in my pocket. I will laugh all the way to the bank!!!Oh and this is a right to work state, this bill will not make it much further.
If this bill does pass, then look for your dues to increase ten fold or more. Collective Bargaining is very expensive. We also need to look at who will do our bargaining for us.
This is a Right to Work Common Wealth. Collective can work, but it wont happen over night. Our union can handle it.
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