Hundreds of professional fire fighters rallied at the U.S. Capitol to urge Congress to pass national collective bargaining rights for all career fire fighters and emergency medical personnel.
Congress has extended collective bargaining laws to private sector employees, transportation workers and federal government employees.
One of the few groups of workers not covered by federal law are state and local government employees — including fire and EMS personnel. Ensuring fire and EMS personnel have basic collective bargaining rights is consistent with the increasing role of fire fighters and EMS personnel in protecting our national security and responding to emergencies across state lines.
The Fire Fighters and EMS Employer-Employee Cooperation Act would give fire and EMS personnel basic collective bargaining rights in states that currently do not provide them and protect these rights in states where they exist but could be repealed.
