Brief Blog: December 8, 2010 – Big Labor gets a big payback

It’s no coincidence the Harry Reid (D-NV) this week reintroduced the Public Safety Employer-Employee Cooperation Act of 2010 (PSEECA). Although Party leaders (including his own) and pundits had written off  the wildly unpopular Majority Leader a year earlier, organized labor supported Reid’s campaign in a Big way. These contributions most likely effected his wafer-thin margin of victory.

An earlier version of the following PSEECA analysis appeared in these pages in July 2010.

Big Labor has a new way to expand its reach: Force state and local governments to bargain collectively with public safety employees. The Public Safety Employer-Employee Cooperation Act (PSEECA) would require states to grant firefighters, police and emergency medical personnel the right to collectively bargain for hours, wages and other conditions of employment (not pensions and health benefits, at least not yet).

PSEECA would be a significant victory for unions. Not surprisingly, over the past 20 years, the International Association of Firefighters has given 82% of its donations to Democrats. Last May, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV)  tried unsuccessfully to attach the bill to a supplemental disaster relief and war-funding bill.

PSEECA would affect 20 states to varying degrees. Currently, two states, North Carolina and Virginia, prohibit public safety workers from bargaining collectively, and 18 others have limitations on bargaining.

The Act would reverse two centuries of state sovereignty over public sector labor arrangements. Historically, state and local governments have had flexibility to adopt policies that address their different needs. Some have chosen to bargain collectively with their first responders; some not. By empowering the Federal Labor Relations Authority (FLRB), the body that oversees labor-management relations for federal employees, to set bargaining standards, supervise elections and resolve disputes, PSEEC effectively imposes a federalized collective bargaining system.

The act would require states to negotiate all conditions of employment, including seniority-based promotions vs. a merit-based pay system. Promoting police or firefighters on the basis of seniority rather than performance may compromise public safety.

It gets worse. PSEECA requires that contract disputes between public safety unions and communities be resolved through arbitration. And arbitrators, whose decisions are binding, is not required to consider the communities’ finances. At a time of budget deficits, the last thing these states need is another unfunded mandate. Higher union labor costs will force them to cut services, raise taxes or add to their already crippling deficits.

Finally, PSEEC could put an end to volunteer fire departments, on which many small towns depend. In 2007, volunteer firefighters accounted for 72% of firefighters nationwide, mainly serving communities with populations of less than 25,000. (Volunteers typically work very part-time whereas paid firefighters work full-time). Firefighter unions strongly oppose volunteer firefighters since they reduce the need for paid firefighters. PSEEC would make it easier for the unions to eliminate volunteer firefighters altogether.

Last year, for the first time membership in public sector unions surpassed that of private sector unions. Unionized state and local government employees typically make about 12% more than their private sector counterparts, to say nothing of their superior job security and benefits. And we the people, who have no seat at the bargaining table, pay their salaries.