After Tragedy, Filibuster

Chances for passage of a collective bargaining bill for public safety officers looked promising immediately after the heroic efforts made by firefighters, police and emergency medical personnel in the wake of the Sept. 11 terrorists attacks. But the bill didn’t even receive a floor vote: Conservative Republicans blocked it with a filibuster.

Senate supporters of the Public Safety Officers Employer-Employee Cooperation Act were optimistic about its passage for two reasons: It would grant minimum collective-bargaining rights to state and local public-safety officers including correctional officers — and it came on the heels of the well-publicized attention received by "first responders" in the New York City and Washington, D.C., tragedies. However, two attempts to offer the act as amendments to larger bills failed.

Supporters of the bill first tried to add S. 952 to the Defense Authorization Act, but negotiations broke down over the insistence of Sen. Phil Gramm (R-Texas) to insert right-to-work language. In a second attempt, the measure was offered as an amendment to the $400-billion appropriations bill for education, health and social services. But after a vote to cut off debate failed, Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle (D-S.D.) was forced to withdraw the amendment.

Seven Republicans joined Democrats in the vote that was four short of the necessary 60 votes to shut off debate; other Senate Republicans charged that the bill would tilt the scale in favor of unionization. Democrats argued that public safety officers had earned the right to form unions and bargain for better pay. Senators who voted against the Daschle amendment:

In a publication drafted by the U.S. Senate Republican Policy Committee, Chairman Larry Craig (R-Idaho) used the terrorist attacks to imply that granting collective bargaining rights to public safety officers could have doomed the rescue efforts in New York and Washington had officers decided to strike. "To give public safety unions the power to hold the public captive is dangerous in times of peace. To do so while America is under attack — over the will of the people, with no idea of the cost and to the detriment of volunteerism — could prove deadly. Today, America relies on its public safety employees more than ever."

Additionally, to convince Senate Republicans to vote against the Daschle amendment when it came up for a vote, the Republican committee issued a vicious and scurrilous attack on the professionalism of public safety officers.