Okla. Senate panel votes to ax city union rights (public workers lose their 13 unions)

http://normantranscript.com/archive/x10256592/Okla-Senate-panel-votes-to-ax-city-union-rights

By SEAN MURPHY Associated Press Mon Mar 28, 2011, 02:45 PM CDT

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — City workers in Oklahoma’s 13 largest cities likely would lose their collective bargaining rights under a Republican-backed bill approved Monday by a Senate committee.

The legislation would repeal the Municipal Employees Collective Bargaining Act, a law approved in 2004 that requires Oklahoma cities with more than 35,000 residents to collectively bargain with their employees. If approved, cities would have the option of whether to collectively bargain, said Sen. Cliff Aldridge, who sponsored the bill.

“This basically sends it back to permissive language,” said Aldridge, R-Midwest City.

The Senate General Government Committee approved the bill on a 5-3 party-line vote.

State workers in Oklahoma, with the exception of teachers, do not have collective bargaining rights. Aldridge’s bill would not affect collective bargaining requirements for municipal police and firefighters in the state.

Carolyn Stager, the president of the Oklahoma Municipal League, said collective bargaining rights of city employees was an “unfunded mandate on cities and towns” because it generally requires cities to pay more in salary and benefits to its workers. She said those decisions should be made by elected officials, such as city councils or mayors.

FULL story at link.