Unionized public employees???

Union payoffs could hurt cities

If Congress forces cities to bargain with unions, public safety is risked

DEMOCRAT Barack Obama owes favors to many special-interest groups, not the least of which is the covey of union leaders that has been more loyal to Democratic presidential candidates over the years than their members. The shopping list for union leaders includes the Public Safety Cooperation Act, a bill that would require governments in all 50 states to recognize unions for public safety employees.

Such a bill passed the House in 2007, but failed in the Senate. With larger majorities in both houses and a Democratic president, passage is more likely next year.

The requirement to allow collective bargaining by public-safety unions would set up the potential for strikes by police and fire departments. While surely there would be provisions against strikes, such laws are useless.

Forgotten are the words of Massachusetts Gov. Calvin Coolidge, who stepped in to stop a strike by the Boston police in 1919. He wrote union leader Samuel Gompers: "There is no right to strike against the public safety by anyone, anywhere, any time."

Even without interruptions in service, negotiations would prove devastating to the public, as any dispute would be "mediated" by a "neutral" party who might or might not take into account the public's ability or willingness to pay for the "negotiated" contract.

It is no accident that the only unionized city in West Virginia, Huntington, has been tied up in fiscal knots for a decade as it tries to deal with paying pensions and health care benefits to retired police officers and firefighters. Huntington's fire pensions are only 3 percent funded.

There is no question that police officers and firefighters deserve good pay and good pensions. The public can never truly compensate them for their willingness to risk everything to protect the public.

But elected officials must remain in control of spending, so they can be held accountable.

Surely members of the West Virginia delegation in Congress do not want to see the problems of Huntington visit every city in the state.

Surely they will vote against this terrible bill if it comes up next year.