I
105TH CONGRESS
1ST SESSION
H. R. 1173
To provide collective bargaining rights for public safety officers employed
by States or their political subdivisions.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
MARCH 20, 1997
Mr. KILDEE (for himself, Mr. NEY, Mr. CLEMENT, Mr. DUNCAN, Mr. FOLEY,
and Mr. KLECZKA) introduced the following bill; which was referred to
the Committee on Education and the Workforce
A BILL
To provide collective bargaining rights for public safety
officers employed by States or their political subdivisions.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Public Safety Em-
ployer-Employee Cooperation Act of 1997’’.
SEC. 2. DECLARATION OF PURPOSE AND POLICY.
The Congress declares that the following is the policy
of the United States:
(1) Labor-management relationships and part-
nerships are based on trust, mutual respect, open
communications, bilateral and consensual problem
solving, and shared accountability. Dispute resolu-
tion procedures are fair, determinative, simple, fast
and inexpensive, and effectively and swiftly deal with
issues. Labor-management cooperation fully utilizes
the strengths of both parties to best serve the inter-
ests of the public, operating as a team to carry out
the public safety mission in a quality work environ-
ment. In many public safety agencies it is the union
that provides the institutional stability as elected
leaders and appointees come and go.
(2) The health and safety of the Nation and the
best interest of public safety employers and employ-
ees can be best protected by the settlement of issues
through the processes of collective bargaining.
(3) The Federal Government shall make avail-
able governmental facilities for conciliation, medi-
ation, and voluntary arbitration to aid and encour-
age employers and the representatives of their em-
ployees to reach and maintain agreements concern-
ing rates of pay, hours, and working conditions, and
to make all reasonable efforts to settle their dif-
ferences by mutual agreement reached through col-
lective bargaining or by such methods as may be
provided for in any applicable agreement for the set-
tlement of disputes.
(4) Certain controversies which arise involving
collective bargaining agreements may be avoided or
minimized through mediations and conciliation.
SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS.
For purposes of this Act:
(1) The term ‘‘Director’’ means the Director of
the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service.
(2) The term ‘‘public safety officer’’ means an
employee of a public safety agency who is a law en-
forcement officer, a firefighter, or emergency medi-
cal services personnel. The term includes an individ-
ual who is temporarily transferred to a supervisory
or administrative position, but does not include a
permanent management or supervisory employee.
(3) The term ‘‘firefighter’’ means an individual
employed in a fire department who—
(A) primarily performs work directly relat-
ed to the control and extinguishment of fires;
(B) is responsible for the maintenance and
use of firefighting apparatus and equipment,
fire prevention and investigation, communica-
tions and dispatch; or
(C) provides emergency medical care.
(4) The term ‘‘law enforcement officer’’ means
a member of a law enforcement agency serving in a
law enforcement position, which is usually indicated
by formal training (regardless of whether the officer
has completed or been assigned to such training)
and usually accompanied by the power to make ar-
rests.
(5) The term ‘‘emergency medical services per-
sonnel’’ means an individual who provides out-of-
hospital emergency medical care, including an emer-
gency medical technician, paramedic, or first re-
sponder.
(6) The term ‘‘law enforcement agency’’ means
a State or local public agency that is charged by law
with the duty to prevent or investigate crimes or ap-
prehend or hold in custody persons charged with or
convicted of crimes.
(7) The term ‘‘management or supervisory em-
ployee’’ includes any public safety personnel exempt-
ed from the provisions of chapter 8 of title 29, Unit-
ed States Code.
(8) The terms ‘‘employer’’ and ‘‘public safety
employer’’ mean any State, political subdivision of a
State, the District of Columbia, or any territory or
possession of the United States.
SEC. 4. RIGHT OF PUBLIC SAFETY OFFICERS TO ORGANIZE
AND BARGAIN COLLECTIVELY.
(a) MINIMUM PROCEDURES.—To be exempt from the
requirements of section 5, a State shall—
(1) grant public safety employees the right to
form and join a labor organization which does not
include management and supervisory employees and
which is, or seeks to be, recognized as the exclusive
bargaining agent of such employees;
(2) require public safety employers to recognize
the employees’ labor organization (freely chosen by
a majority of the employees), agree to bargain with
the labor organization, and to commit any agree-
ments to writing in a contract or memorandum of
understanding;
(3) allow bargaining over hours, wages, terms,
and conditions of employment;
(4) prohibit bargaining over issues which are in-
herent management functions;
(5) protect all existing collective bargaining
agreements, memoranda of understanding, certifi-
cations, recognitions, and elections;
(6) require fact finding in the event of an inter-
est impasse;
(7) allow the parties voluntarily to agree to sub-
mit disagreements to arbitration;
(8) require enforcement through State courts of
all rights, responsibilities, and protections provided
in this section and of any written contract or memo-
randum of understanding; and
(9) prohibit strikes and lockouts.
(b) DETERMINATION.—
(1) IN
GENERAL.—Not later than 180 days
after the date of enactment of this Act, the Director
of the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service
shall issue a determination as to whether a State
meets the requirements of subsection (a).
(2) SUBSEQUENT DETERMINATIONS.—After the
expiration of the 180-day period referred to in para-
graph (1), an employer or labor organization may
request the Director of the Federal Mediation and
Conciliation Service to determine whether the State
meets the requirements of subsection (a). The Direc-
tor shall issue such a determination not later than
30 days after written receipt of such a request.
(3) FAILURE
TO
MEET
REQUIREMENTS.—A
State that does not meet or exceed the requirements
of subsection (a) shall be subject to the regulations
and procedures described in section 5.
SEC. 5. FEDERAL MEDIATION AND CONCILIATION.
(a) IN GENERAL.—Not later than one year after the
date of the enactment of this Act, the Director of the Fed-
eral Mediation and Conciliation Service shall issue regula-
tions establishing collective bargaining procedures for pub-
lic safety employers and employees in States that are not
granted an exemption under section 4.
(b) ROLE OF FMCS.—The regulations described in
subsection (a) shall incorporate the rights and responsibil-
ities in section 4(a), and shall use the services of the Fed-
eral Mediation and Conciliation Service. The Federal Me-
diation and Conciliation Service shall have the same au-
thority as a State Labor Relations Board, or in a case
where no such Board exists, the National Labor Relations
Board, for public safety employers and employees covered
under this Act.
(c) ENFORCEMENT.—A public safety employer, em-
ployee, and labor organization each shall have the right
to seek enforcement of this section through appropriate
State courts.
SEC. 6. STRIKES AND LOCKOUTS PROHIBITED.
A public safety employer, employee, or labor organi-
zation may not engage in lockouts or strikes.
SEC. 7. EXISTING COLLECTIVE BARGAINING UNITS AND
AGREEMENTS.
A certification, recognition, election-held, collective
bargaining agreement or memorandum of understanding
which has been issued, approved, or ratified by any public
employee relations board or commission or by any State
or political subdivision or its agents (management offi-
cials) in effect on the day before the date of enactment
of this Act shall not be invalidated by enactment of this
Act.
SEC. 8. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.
There are authorized to be appropriated such sums
as may be necessary to carry out the provisions of this
Act.
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