UPDATE: COLLECTIVE BARGAINING AMENDMENT!

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   We Need Your Help!!!

The Senate will hold a vote on our collective bargaining amendment, S. Amdt. 3830, either this evening or early tomorrow morning.  WE NEED 60 VOTES FOR THE AMENDMENT TO PASS AND EVERY VOTE COUNTS!!!

The amendment (S. Amdt. 3830) is identical to the Senate version of the collective bargaining bill and has been offered by Senators Edward M. Kennedy (D-MA) and Judd Gregg (R-NH).

CALL FOR IMMEDIATE ACTION:
WE NEED 60 VOTES!!!

All FOP members should call their Senators at their Washington offices (or through the U.S. Capitol Switchboard at 202-224-3121) and urge them to vote in favor of the Kennedy-Gregg Amendment (S. Amdt. 3830) to the Farm bill!!!

The organizations who opposes the bill are already hard at work using their phone banks to tell YOUR Senators to vote against the amendment.  We NEED to counteract this--call your Senators today!!!

When making contact with your Senators, use the following talking points to explain why this legislation is so important to law enforcement officers: 

What the bill does: The legislation recognizes the right of public safety employees to form and join a labor organization and to bargain over hours, wages, and the terms and conditions of employment.  The specifically prohibits lockouts and strikes, and also protects State laws--including right-to-work laws--that provide equal or greater collective bargaining rights than those outlined in the bill. 
 The bill passed the House by a wide margin earlier this year and has bipartisan support in the Senate.  In July 2007, the U.S. House of Representatives considered and passed a nearly identical measure, H.R. 980, the "Public Employer-Employee Cooperation Act," under a suspension of the rules on a 314-97 vote.  The Senate version of the bill, S. 2123, which is identical to the amendment being offered to the Farm bill, has twenty-six (26) cosponsors. 
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.

This is our chance to pass the collective bargaining bill!!!  We need ALLFOP members to CONTACT THEIR SENATORS IN THEIR WASHINGTON, D.C. OFFICE NOW AND ASK THEM TO VOTE IN FAVOR OF S. Amdt. 3830 to the Farm Bill!!!

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Cop_Bot Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Admin Group Automated NewsBot Joined: January 28 2005 Location: Charleston Online Status: Offline Posts: 43868 Topics: 43311	Topic: UPDATE: COLLECTIVE BARGAINING AMENDMENT! Posted: December 13 2007 at 2:56pm
	*We Need Your Help!!!* *The Senate will hold a vote on our collective bargaining amendment, S. Amdt. 3830, either this evening or early tomorrow morning.* WE NEED 60 VOTES FOR THE AMENDMENT TO PASS AND EVERY VOTE COUNTS!!! *The amendment (S. Amdt. 3830)* is identical to the Senate version of the collective bargaining bill and has been offered by Senators Edward M. Kennedy (D-MA) and Judd Gregg (R-NH). CALL FOR IMMEDIATE ACTION: WE NEED 60 VOTES!!! All FOP members should call their Senators at their Washington offices (or through the U.S. Capitol Switchboard at 202-224-3121) and urge them to vote in favor of the Kennedy-Gregg Amendment (S. Amdt. 3830) to the Farm bill!!! The organizations who opposes the bill are already hard at work using their phone banks to tell YOUR Senators to vote against the amendment. We NEED to counteract this--call your Senators today!!! When making contact with your Senators, use the following talking points to explain why this legislation is so important to law enforcement officers: What the bill does: The legislation recognizes the right of public safety employees to form and join a labor organization and to bargain over hours, wages, and the terms and conditions of employment. The specifically prohibits lockouts and strikes, and also protects State laws--including right-to-work laws--that provide equal or greater collective bargaining rights than those outlined in the bill. The bill passed the House by a wide margin earlier this year and has bipartisan support in the Senate. In July 2007, the U.S. House of Representatives considered and passed a nearly identical measure, H.R. 980, the "Public Employer-Employee Cooperation Act," under a suspension of the rules on a 314-97 vote. The Senate version of the bill, S. 2123, which is identical to the amendment being offered to the Farm bill, has twenty-six (26) cosponsors. 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. This is our chance to pass the collective bargaining bill!!! We need ALLFOP members to CONTACT THEIR SENATORS IN THEIR WASHINGTON, D.C. OFFICE NOW AND ASK THEM TO VOTE IN FAVOR OF S. Amdt. 3830 to the Farm Bill!!!**
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WebGeek Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Admin Group Website Administrator Joined: November 30 2004 Location: North Charleston Online Status: Offline Posts: 626 Topics: 316	Posted: December 14 2007 at 2:34pm
	COLLECTIVE BARGAINING AMENDMENT WITHDRAWN Regrettably, Senators Edward M. Kennedy (D-MA) and Judd Gregg (R-NH) had to withdraw the collective bargaining amendment (S. Amdt. 3830) from consideration. No vote will be held. The Kennedy-Gregg Amendment, like most amendments to the Farm bill that were considered on the floor this week, required a sixty (60) margin to pass. We had more than the 60 we needed to pass the amendment, however, the timing of the final debate among the Democratic Presidential candidates held in Iowa yesterday cost us four (4) votes in favor of the bill. We would have had to "flip" two (2) Republican Senators to prevail or reach a unanimous consent agreement to vote on our amendment at a time when we knew that those Senators campaigning for President in Iowa would be back in the Senate. Senators Michael B. Enzi (R-WY), Ranking Member of the Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP), and Jim DeMint (R-SC), took advantage of this absence and would have blocked the agreement to hold the vote at a time certain by offering hostile "second degree" amendments. This obstacle, combined with bad weather in the center of country, precluded any definitive plans of the four Senators campaigning in Iowa from committing to return to the Senate for votes on Friday or even Saturday. Ultimately, we opted to withdraw the amendment from consideration rather than hold a series of debates and votes on second degree amendments without knowing for certain that we could get 60 votes for our amendment, or even if the Farm bill itself would eventually pass. FOP members should take some time and thank Senators Kennedy, Gregg, and Joseph R. Biden, Jr. (D-DE), one of the Senators in Iowa who committed to return if the vote were held, for all of their efforts in support of the amendment. They were very committed to getting this to a vote this week, and they should know their efforts were sincerely appreciated. On behalf of National President Canterbury and the staff at the National Legislative Office, I do want to thank all the members of the Grassroots Action Network who took the time out to contact their Senators--especially those who had been specifically targeted--all this week. Those calls did make a difference. It is important to remember that we do have the votes to pass this bill and to defeat a filibuster. Unfortunately, the timing of the Iowa debate and the difficult weather conditions interfered with the ability to deliver those votes. We anticipate that, when Congress reconvenes next year, we will be in a position to move ahead with a vote on our legislation. Thank you again for your help on this critical legislative issue and best wishes to you and your families for the holiday season. To remove your name from our mailing list, please send an email to grassroots@grandlodgefop.org with REMOVE and the State you live in, in the Subject Line Questions or Comments? E-mail us at grassroots@grandlodgefop.org or call (202) 547 - 8189. Grand Lodge Website \| Legislative Office Homepage
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