Public Safety Employer-Employee Cooperation Act of 2007 - Continued

Floor Speech

PUBLIC SAFETY EMPLOYER-EMPLOYEE COOPERATION ACT OF 2007--Continued -- (Senate - May 13, 2008)

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Mr. HATCH. Mr. President, many of my colleagues have spoken about the tremendous service America's public safety employees give to the public. I could not agree more. Any given day one of these officers may be asked to put his or her life on the line, and they will do so willingly and courageously. I agree with my colleagues that individuals who choose these careers deserve respect, gratitude, and special treatment. But the bill we are considering today would actually result in diminishing the rights of public safety employees who are not currently unionized.

Once a workforce is unionized, even employees who don't wish to be part of a union will have pay deducted from their paychecks, spent in a manner outside of their control, and they will have very little ability to question or alter the legal representation that has been established with or without their support.

My amendment seeks merely to balance that diminution of self-determination by establishing a Public Employee Bill of Rights.

This amendment would do three things: Guarantee the right to vote by secret ballot, limit the right of public unions' dues collection authority to nonpolitical uses, and allow financial transparency.

By ensuring that public safety employees in all States have the right to vote on whether to unionize by secret ballot, my amendment guarantees for public safety employees that same right private employees now have. In a democratic society, nothing is more sacred than the right to vote, and it is undeniable that nothing ensures truly free choice more than the use of a private ballot.

The possibility of coercive or threatening behavior toward employees who may not wish to form a union is even more concerning in the context of public safety employees who rely on coworkers to reduce the deadly risks they face routinely in the course of their important work.

The amendment would also limit the right of public unions' dues collection authority to nonpolitical uses. Those who choose public service often accept lower pay than they might make in the private sector because they are dedicated to public service. Let's not insult that choice by allowing labor bosses to take money from that paycheck and spend it on purely political causes the employee does not support.

I believe public employees should have the same protections from fraud and abuse as private employees. My amendment would empower public employees by allowing them to observe how their dues are being spent and the other financial dealings of their unions. It does this by bringing public unions under the requirements of the Labor Management Reporting and Disclosure Act, a 1959 law enacted with bipartisan support, including then-Senator John F. Kennedy.

Public employees who pay union dues, especially those who are compelled to do so against their wishes, are no less entitled to financial transparency and fraud protections than the private sector employees covered under the law today.

I urge my colleagues to support this amendment. It is a simple amendment. It provides for protections that ought to be there. If this bill should pass, these protections, at a minimum, ought to be part of this bill.

Mr. President, I yield the floor.

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