Public Safety Employer-Employee Cooperation Act

Public Safety Employer-Employee Cooperation Act

This bill addresses the rights of public safety officers or employees to form and join a labor organization and to participate in certain organized job actions.

The bill requires the Federal Labor Relations Authority (NLRA) to determine whether a state substantially provides public safety officers or employees

• the right to form and join a labor organization;
• recognition by public safety employers of the employees' labor organization, agreement to bargain with the organization, and reduction of any agreements to writing in a contract or memorandum of understanding;
• the right to bargain over hours, wages, and terms and conditions of employment; and
• binding interest arbitration to resolve an impasse in collective bargaining negotiations.

The bill makes the NLRA responsible for (1) determining the appropriateness of units for labor representation; (2) supervising elections; (3) conducting hearings and resolving complaints of unfair labor practices; and (4) protecting the right of employees to form, join, or assist any labor organization, or to refrain from doing so.

An employer, public safety officer, or labor organization may not engage in a lockout, sickout, work slowdown, strike, or any other organized job action that will measurably disrupt the delivery of emergency services and is designed to compel an employer, public safety officer, or labor organization to agree to the terms of a proposed contract.