(The Center Square) — New Hampshire Republicans have filed a proposal to set “term limits” for public sector unions by requiring them to hold more frequent elections.
The legislation, which is being considered by the House Committee on Labor, Industrial and Rehabilitative Services, would require public sector unions to recertify when the number of employees that joined the union before the previous certification vote outnumber those who approve the original vote.
State Rep. Michael Granger, the bill’s primary sponsor, said the legislation’s intent is to set “term limits for unions” to prevent them from becoming entrenched. He suggested that recertification should occur every five to 10 years, though the bill doesn’t specify a timeframe.
“Unions should represent their members and if they do a good job at it, it should be no problem to recertify them, when it comes time for that,” he told the committee. “We need this to make sure unions aren’t just perpetually protecting their little fiefdom and saying ‘this is our little workplace and we own it forever.'”
Granger said that would give workers the option of changing unions if they weren’t happy with their leadership, similar to the way voters elect a president and other term-limited positions.
“We don’t have kings in America,” he said. “We have a president. He lasts for four years, and if he doesn’t do a good job then we vote for someone else. This just extends that to unions.”
But Richard Gulla, president of the State Employees Association/Service Employees International Union 1984, blasted the proposal as “anti-union” and argued it would restrict the rights of state and local government workers.
“Supporters of this bill are trying to restrict the freedom of nurses, teachers, firefighters, police officers, and other public employees to come together, to have their voice heard,” Gulla told the panel. “These folks who serve our community have the right to protect their retirement and health care as they see fit.”
Gulla and other union leaders pointed out that under federal labor laws workers can already petition for a vote to decertify their union.
Glenn Brackett, president of the New Hampshire AFL-CIO, said his organization also opposes the legislation and said a fiscal note attached to the bill suggesting the new requirements would cost the state only $78,000 was “aggressively underestimated.”
“This is just a waste of all our time,” he told the committee on Tuesday. “I think we’re best served moving the people’s work into something that is less union-busting and more proactive.”
