VICTORY ON FIRST CLOTURE VOTE!!!
The cloture vote on the motion to proceed to debate on H.R. 980, the "Public Safety Employer-Employee Cooperation Act," was passed on a lopsided 69-29 vote.

All Senate Democrats, including both Senators Clinton (D-NY) and Obama (D-IL), as well as independent Senators Lieberman (ID-CT) and Sanders (I-VT) voted in favor of the cloture motion, as did the following Republicans (Republican Senators who are cosponsors of the Senate bill, S. 2123, are marked with an asterisk.)

Chambliss (GA)           Gregg (NH)*            Murkowski (AK)*   Sununu (NH)*                      
Coleman (MN)*          Hagel (NE)               Smith (OR)*            Thune (SD)
Collins (ME)*              Hatch (UT)               Snowe (ME)*          Voinovich (OH)
Domenici (NM)*         Martinez (FL)*          Specter (PA)*            
Grassley (IA)                McConnell (KY)      Stevens (AK)*                              

The full vote tally can be found here: http://www.senate.gov/legislative/LIS/roll_call_lists/roll_call_vote_cfm.cfm?congress=110&session=2&vote=00126

The margin of our victory is due in large part to our grassroots--but we need to keep up and sustain the effort.


NEED FOR CONTINUED ACTION:
The Senate is debating this bill on the floor NOW. With debate on the bill beginning today, now it is even more important to contact the office of your Senators and urge them to support, or to continue to support law enforcement officers by voting in favor of the bill!!!

All FOP members should call their Senators and thank them for their vote OR ask them to support the H.R. 980 on the floor during the debate today.  You can reach them at their Washington offices or through the U.S. Capitol Switchboard at 202-224-3121.

 Keep calling your Senators' offices and let them know how important this legislation is to you!!!  We still have several more votes to win if we are to get this legislation passed.

During your conversation with a Senate staff member, you should emphasize that the bill does not require binding arbitration, protects existing right-to-work laws, and specifically prohibits strikes and lockouts. The legislation merely requires that States “substantially provide” for the following rights and responsibilities:

• the right to form and join a labor organization;

• the right to bargain over hours, wages, and the terms and conditions of employment; and

• the availability of an “interest impasse resolution mechanism such as fact-finding, mediation, arbitration, or comparable procedures".

Additional talking points to use when making your case:

• Last July, H.R. 980, was favorably reported by the House Committee on Education and Labor on a 42-1 vote.  Later that same month, the U.S. House of Representatives passed the bill on a 314-97 vote.

• The House bill won a majority of votes from BOTH party caucuses.

• The bottom line for both public safety employers and employees is not profit for shareholders, but to best ensure the safety of the officers, to bring them home safely at the end of their shift and to deliver emergency services in the fastest and most efficient way possible.

• It is irresponsible and offensive to suggest that collective bargaining would impede or jeopardize the ability of law enforcement officers to do their jobs.  Their lives are on the line everyday, agreement or no agreement and to suggest that response to a critical incident would be used as a bargaining chip is reprehensible.

You can get additional information on the bill, and can direct Senate staff to, the Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) on the Grand Lodge website: http://www.fop.net/legislative/issues/bargain/hr980faq.pdf

If any of the Senator's staff that you speak with have additional questions about the legislation, tell them to contact Tim Richardson at in the FOP's National Legislative Office at 202-547-8189

It is important that FOP members understand that today's victory was only the first step--we'll have to win several more votes before the bill will be sent to the White House.  The members of the IACP and National Sheriffs' Association are working very hard to kill this bill in any way they can.  Without continued grassroots activity from our rank-and-file members, they could still prevail!

We need all FOP members to CONTACT THEIR SENATORS IN THEIR WASHINGTON, D.C. OFFICE NOW AND ASK THEM TO SUPPORT H.R. 980, THE  "PUBLIC SAFETY EMPLOYER-EMPLOYEE COOPERATION ACT"!!!

CALL NOW AND WATCH YOUR EMAIL AND THE FOP WEBSITE FOR ADDITIONAL LEGISLATIVE ALERTS!!!

FOP’S BARGAINING BILL WINS FIRST SENATE VOTE!
Lopsided 69-29 Vote Means Debate on Measure Will Begin Today

Chuck Canterbury, National President of the Fraternal Order of Police, welcomed the results in a procedural vote on the Senate floor, which voted to invoke cloture on the motion to proceed to debate on H.R. 980, the “Public Employee-Employer Cooperation Act.”

“This afternoon’s vote was a significant victory for the FOP,” Canterbury said.  “While we must keep in mind this was a procedural vote that simply allows debate on the bill to begin, the large margin of victory here sends a strong message to those who are trying to prevent the bill from getting an up-or-down vote.”

The legislation, which is championed in the Senate by Senators Edward M. Kennedy (D-MA), Chairman of the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) and Judd Gregg (R-NH), would would recognize the fundamental right of public safety employees to form and join unions and bargain collectively with their employers over wages, hours, and working conditions without undermining existing State collective bargaining laws.   The legislation does not require binding arbitration, protects existing right-to-work laws, and specifically prohibits strikes and lockouts.  The bill was passed by the House last July on a 314-97 vote after being favorably reported by the House Committee Education and Labor in June on a 42-1 vote.

“The FOP and our friends at the International Association of Fire Fighters have been working to pass this legislation for more than a decade,” Canterbury said.  “Because of our joint efforts and our bipartisan approach, we scored an important tactical victory this afternoon in our efforts to improve the lives of our members and the safety of the public they protect.”

Canterbury dismissed the arguments of some Senators and Administration officials, who claim that recognizing the rights of public safety officers to bargain collectively would “dangerously reduce” the ability of State and local public safety officers to respond to emergencies.

“As law enforcement officers, we take our oath and commitment to protect and serve very seriously, so it is deeply offensive to suggest that the men and women who put their lives on the line every day would use emergency response as a bargaining chip,” Canterbury said.  “Virtually every public safety agency that responded to the attacks on the United States in 2001 were covered by collective bargaining agreements and no one would suggest that those agreements at all impeded the ability of the managers and employees to work together during those dark and difficult days.”

The Senate will begin debate on the measure this afternoon, and more votes are expected this week.

“Public safety occupations are unique, and their labor relations need to reflect that.  In our line of work, the bottom line is the safety of the public and of the officer,” Canterbury said.  “This means that the ability to sit down and talk with your employer is absolutely critical, because the issues on the table are not limited to wages and hours, but also encompass issues of officer safety, the efficiency of emergency response, and preparedness for critical incidents.”

The Fraternal Order of Police is the largest law enforcement labor organization in the United States, with more than 325,000 members.