Posted on 06/17/2010 7:03:46 AM PDT by reaganaut1
The Senate is moving closer to passing legislation that would require states to grant public-safety employees, including police, firefighters and emergency medical workers, the right to collectively bargain over hours and wages.
The bill, known as the Public Safety Employer-Employee Cooperation Act, would mainly affect about 20 states that don't grant collective-bargaining rights statewide for public-safety workers or that prohibit such bargaining. State and municipal associations, as well as business groups, oppose it, saying it will lead to higher labor costs and taxes, at a time of budget deficits.
The bill, backed by at least six Republicans in the Senate, prohibits strikes and leaves to states' discretion whether to engage in collective bargaining in several areas, including health benefits and pensions.
If the legislation passes and states choose not to grant the minimum collective-bargaining rights outlined in the bill, the Federal Labor Relations Authority, which oversees labor-management relations for federal employees, would step in and implement collective-bargaining rights for these workers.
The House passed a version of the bill in 2007. If enacted, the legislation would be a significant victory for unions, which are smarting over the failure of Democrats to pass a separate, broader bill that would have made it easier for unions to organize workers, especially in the private sector, where union membership has been in decline for years.
The public-safety bargaining bill was first introduced in the mid-1990s. Union officials say they now have their best shot to pass it, but that time could run out if Democrats don't act soon and go on to lose several Senate seats in November
More public-sector workers belonged to a union than private-sector workers last year for the first time ever.
(Excerpt) Read more at online.wsj.com ...
What Republican Governors who have to deal with Public Unions should do is privatize everything that isn’t related to the police, fire department or sanitation department. Some states did it to the DOT and it actually costs less and is more efficient.
Since when is that even a consideration?
Yet another intolerable infringement on States rights.
The States have to start pushing back. There is already a long list of things they must do to balance the power of the federal government, restore it to order, and reduce its scale and scope. So many have built up over two centuries that it requires a constitutional convention.
The following are proposed constitutional amendments.
Repeal of the 16th (Income Tax) and 17th (Direct Election of US Senators) Amendments of the constitution.
(Another Form of Federal Tax) Amendment.
Balanced Federal Budget.
Prohibition of Off Budget Expenditures.
Presidential Line Item Veto.
National Census Enumeration Only
Personal Information and Records Limitation by Government and Private Individuals and Organizations.
Corporate Civil Rights As Distinct From The Civil Rights Of Living Persons.
Oligopoly Antitrust.
Presidential War Powers.
Posse Comitatus.
Limitation on Presidential Authority To Declare Martial Law.
Presidential Authority Only Through Cabinet Officers, Appointment and Impeachment of Cabinet Officers. Term Limits for Recess And Temporary Appointments.
Itemized Congressional Approval of All Bureaucratic Regulatory Authority.
The Creation of a State Appointed Constitutional Review Court (50 State Judges To Sit As a Federal Nullification Court, a Second Court of the United States).
Structural Reorganization of the Federal Judiciary and Limitations to the Authority of Federal Judges.
Reduction of the Size and Authority of the Federal Government and Enabling Acts.
Congressional and Judicial Term Limits.
Restoration of State Lands from Federal Land Takings and Limitations of Eminent Domain.
The Creation of a National Tribal Congress for Indigenous Peoples (renegotiation of treaties and integration of tribal and commercial law).
Limitations of Federal Intelligence and Federal Police Authority. The “Sheriffs First” Rule.
Renunciation of the National Debt.
Abolition of the FED.
Prohibition of Federal Largess to Individuals.
Restrictions on Earmarks, Single Subject Congressional Acts.
Abolition of All Government Employee Unions.
(Importantly, this is not an exclusive list. But these are subjects that our State legislators should be debating right now. Nullification, nor just a constitutional amendment or two cannot correct 200+ years of housekeeping that need to be done.)
b/c for the most part the GOP is just as worthless as the Dem party
Lisa Murkowski needs to be tossed. Any idea if Joe Miller has a shot? He’s got Palin’s backing and the Tea Party backing.
“The other Republican co-sponsors in the Senate are Scott Brown of Massachusetts,”
He is proving to be the Liberal Trojan Horse in the GOP.
WTF?
You want to talk about outright abuse of the interstate commerce clause of the US constitution? Go no further.
I thought the standard word was "unexpectedly."
The Feds have been trying to nationalize the emergency services for years. The "Right to Work" states will immediately file lawsuits on this if it passes.
So much for state sovereignty.
It worked out well for CA and Greece, why not spread it to all the other states? /s
Ahem, are you asking a rhetorical question or do you have no clue about RINOs?
Do you have a more detailed set of discussions of these topics, or was this off the top of your head. Is there anyone else discussing this list?
“It worked so well in California...”
and Greece.
If you look closely that question in #26 was re-posted as the thread poster's question from his comment 1 not mine, it got me annoyed that they got 6. I said it was a constitutional abuse.
Fricking Scott Brown is one of the co-sponsors...
What in the “H” business is it of the Feds. This isn’t anything they should be able to consider as their responsibility period.
Another piece of Leftist work to be annulled in the near future.
Wondering if any of the Leftist Democrat, RINO’s have even read the Constitution. Those that have probably dismiss it as a fairy tale by their actions.
We can replace the entire consitution with Do What You Want To Do. I think Ron Paul is the only member of congress I ever heard say that he does not vote for any bill that doesn’t show where the constitution provides the authority to enact it.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.