Letter to Senate Opposing H.R. 980
August 15, 2007
Dear Senator,
On behalf of the Alliance for Worker Freedom (AWF), and the American worker, I am writing to urge you to oppose H.R. 980, the alleged, “Public Safety Employer-Employee Cooperation Act of 2007”, as it is a direct violation of the 10th Amendment and a flagrant threat to workers rights across the nation.
Sponsored by Congressman John Barrow (D-GA) from Georgia’s 12th District, and unconscionably passed in the House (314-97), H.R. 980 will mandate city governments to engage in collective bargaining with labor unions representing public safety officers and emergency first responders. Such clear and egregious consolidation of powers is expressively forbidden in the United States Constitution. The 10th Amendment clearly states:
The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved for the States respectively, or to the people.
Nowhere in the Constitution does it grant authority to the federal government to establish the existence of public employee unions in each state. Senator, it is imperative that you do not trample on the document that our nation’s principles of freedom were founded upon and vote “no” on H.R. 980.
Further, H.R. 980 will allow unions to bargain over employee hours, wages, benefits and condition of employment; ultimately leading to higher costs for goods and services. Specific to H.R. 980, this bill allows for the creation of emergency first responders unions. Given that union bosses often encourage and push for union members to strike over supercilious circumstances to further their own personal agendas, consider the repercussions of an emergency first responder, police or fire strike in your home state, or perhaps even your neighborhood.
As evident from the 2005 New York City transit strike, this left millions of commuters affected by the transportation shortage, union strikes can leave Americans without the services they desperately depend on. If police, fire and emergency first responders went on a strike similar to the NYC transit strike, the result could be a rash of violence, theft, and even death – all preventable by voting “no” on H.R. 980.
Do you really want to answer to your constituents when cities must cave to extortionist-level demands just to keep ambulances on the streets and cops fighting crime? AWF encourages you to vote against H.R. 980 and not allow union thugs to strong-arm safety services.
Sincerely,
Brian M Johnson,
Director of Policy
