ower-mad "Big Labor" bosses and their henchmen in Washington just won't give up.
For months now, union bosses — with help from Senators Ted Kennedy and Tom Daschle — have been relentless in their attempts to force every police officer, firefighter, and EMT in the country under Big Labor's monopoly control.
Now, union bosses have descended on Capitol Hill en masse to strong-arm U.S. House members. Hundreds of union militants arrived in Washington this week in an attempt to intimidate lawmakers into voting for their latest power grab. Seniors officials at the International Association of Firefighters Union (IAFF), part of the AFL-CIO, are conducting political-training sessions this week for over 800 Big Labor foot soldiers, and then unleashing them on Capitol Hill to push their agenda.
Their ultimate goal? To add tens of thousands of forced dues-paying members to Big Labor's ranks — regardless of what state and local governments want, or what the individual workers want.
The union bosses' brazen attempts to deceive the public about their plans have been as shocking as they are disturbing.
Just two days after the terrorist attacks last September, Sen. Ted Kennedy (D., Mass.) and his Labor Committee sneaked the misnamed "Public Safety Employer-Employee Cooperation Act" (S. 952/H.R. 1475) onto the Senate floor without so much as a recorded vote. This outrageous bill would force every policeman, firefighter, and emergency worker in the country to either submit to union-boss control — or be fired.
Just a few nights after that, Kennedy waited until nearly every other senator had gone home for the evening and tried to pass the legislation by "unanimous consent." Another senator intervened just in time to stop Kennedy, but the union bosses' congressional allies weren't through yet.
When the Senate debated a major appropriations bill just a few weeks later, Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle (D., S.D.) tried to add S. 952 as an amendment. Daschle's more freedom-loving colleagues managed to stop his scheme with a filibuster, but it was a very close call.
Unbelievably, Senators Daschle and Kennedy aren't finished yet. They told militant union bosses to force the legislation through the House first, then come back through the Senate. And thanks to their usual strong-armed tactics on Capitol Hill, they believe they can get the necessary votes to overturn a potential presidential veto.
All this for what union bosses openly brag is the largest expansion of union rights Congress has considered in decades. It's a dangerous expansion: Union bosses are notorious for staging damaging strikes and work slowdowns at the most critical of moments to make sure their unrealistic demands are met in full.
Unfortunately, union bosses are not above these tactics even in a time of war. The headlines tell the story: Just days ago, union-boss militants at the Lockheed Martin plant in Marietta, Georgia called that plant's first strike in 25 years — just as it was awarded one of the largest bids in history to manufacture fighter planes and helicopters for the war effort.Lockheed Martin's management had already offered the union a contract including 10-percent raises and $1,000 signing bonuses. Needless to say, in today's economy, 10-percent raises are nearly unheard of. Unfortunately for the U.S. military, union bosses believe they are entitled to more and better than the rest of the country — even when the nation is at war.
This new war is unlike any we have faced, because it has the potential to be fought, in part, on our own soil. We must be prepared for this possibility and make sure that adequate emergency services will always be ready to serve the American people in times of need.
Forced unionization of our police and firefighters is not compatible with this preparation, especially since it tends to force the best men and women out of their jobs.
Under forced-unionism laws, to disobey the union boss is to lose your job. Our police, firefighters, and EMTs should not be made to choose between saving innocent lives and feeding their families.
This brazen attempt to hand our nation's police and firefighters over to Big Labor's monopoly control must be stopped in its tracks. S. 952/H.R. 1475 is being aggressively promoted by Senators Ted Kennedy and Tom Daschle. In fact, Daschle publicly promised a group of union bosses that he would see to this bill's passage by the end of the 107th Congress. Now is not the time for Congress to capitulate to Big Labor bosses' demands.