Politics & Government

Union Members, Others Crowd House Labor Bill Hearings

Committee moves hearings to Representatives Hall.

The House Labor, Industrial and Rehabilitative Services Committee held a marathon hearing session on Jan. 19 focused on seven labor bills that opponents say will destroy the middle class and proponents say will rein in government spending.

The committee moved the hearing from the Legislative Office Building to Representatives Hall because there were so many people attending the hearing. The hall was full of many representatives of organized labor, including state employees, firefighters, law enforcement officials, teachers, as well as some lobbyists from both sides of the issues, and media outlets.

The first part of the hearings included testimony concerning HB 1163, a bill relative to withholding union dues from wages; HB 1206, prohibiting the state from withholding union dues from the wages of state employees; HB 1174, relative to negotiations for contracts for county employees; and HB 1237, relative to membership of the advisory committee appointed to assist the state negotiator in collective bargaining negotiations. At 12:35 p.m., the committee went into recess. 

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Other bills scheduled to be discussed later in the day include, HB 1570, relative to the duty of public employee labor organizations to represent employees who elect not to join or to pay dues or fees to the employee organization; and HB 1663-FN-L, relative to the payment of union fees by non-union members; and HB1645-FN, prohibiting all public employees from participating in collective bargaining.

The labor bill hearings come on the heels of a rejection by the NH House to override Gov. John Lynch’s veto of the late last year. Unlike the right-to-work procedures, the tenor of those in attendance was relatively respectful, with little to no boos and the ocassional applause for speakers testifying against some of the bills. 

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