Zach Wamp Seeks to Unionize State and Local Emergency Services Workers

Rep. Zach Wamp, 3rd District Congressman and Tennessee gubernatorial candidate, has cosponsored HR413 in the U.S. House of Representatives.  The Congressional Research Service summary for the bill states, “Provides collective bargaining rights for public safety officers employed by states or local governments.”  This would effectively unionize fire, police, and EMS departments and give an unconstitutional agency of the federal government, over and above the state and local governments that employ them, control over any labor issues or disputes that may arise.

Rep. Wamp may talk a good game on Tennessee sovereignty in his campaign for the governor’s office, but time and again he has shown his true colors, as he does with this bill.  This is yet another attempt to subvert state power and hand more unconstitutional powers over to the federal behemoth.  There is no constitutional power for the federal government to be involved in any employment issues whatsoever, much less to attempt to stand directly in between state and local governments and their employees.  Further, this attempts to subvert Tennessee’s Right-To-Work laws that prevent employees from being forced to join or financially support any union in order to hold a job.

The National Right to Work Committee has added its voice to those who have asked Wamp to remove himself from the list of legislators cosponsoring this legislation.  In their letter to Rep. Wamp, they point out:

The Tennessee General Assembly, between the House and Senate, has rejected state versions of H.R. 413 on thirteen occasions, most recently in 2007 (S. 1505, H. 1189). By cosponsoring H.R. 413, you are agreeing to override the will of the people of Tennessee and the Tennessee General Assembly by federal mandate.

By cosponsoring this bill, Rep. Zach Wamp is yet again showing his contempt for the U.S. Constitution, which he took an oath to uphold, as well as the sovereignty of the state of Tennessee.  If he refuses to keep his oath and support Tennessee sovereignty, why would Tennesseans trust him with the governor’s office?

Contact Rep. Zach Wamp’s office here.

Lesley Swann is a Co-Host for Tenther Radio and the state chapter coordinator for the Tennessee Tenth Amendment Center. She is a native of Anderson County, Tennessee.

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This entry was posted on Sunday, March 7th, 2010 at 8:09 pm. It is filed under 10th Amendment, Elections, Featured and tagged with HR413, Zach Wamp. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.