WHEREAS:

AFSCME proudly represents over 100,000 law enforcement officers, corrections officers, emergency medical technicians and paramedics dedicated to protecting communities across the country; and

WHEREAS:
Public safety officers work in dangerous conditions, often with the most violent members of our society, risk their lives to ensure that the public is held safe, and sacrifice their safety for the sake of the public; and

WHEREAS:
State and local public safety officers lack a federally-protected right to collectively bargain over wages, hours and working conditions; and

WHEREAS:
Public safety officers deserve the same right to discuss workplace issues with their employers that the federal government grants to most other workers; and

WHEREAS:
The Public Safety Employer-Employee Cooperation Act will put state and local government public safety officers on equal footing with the people they protect and promote cooperation between public safety agencies and their employees and result in more effective and more efficient delivery of emergency services. 

THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED:
That AFSCME supports the extension of collective bargaining rights to public safety officers and asks that Congress acknowledge the dedication and service of public safety employees by giving these employees these basic rights; and
 
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED:  
That all AFSCME affiliates will mobilize their members and lobby Congress for passage of the Public Safety Employer-Employee Cooperation Act.
 
 
SUBMITTED BY: 
William Shillings, President
Michael Gunter, Secretary-Treasurer and Delegate
AFSCME Local 2173
Tennessee