The Wyoming Senate blocked a bill that would remove requirements for binding arbitration from collective bargaining negotiations for the Wyoming’s firefighter unions last Thursday.
If a dispute over wages or safety measures were to arise under the current laws, and could not be resolved, then the issue would be brought before a third party to make a ruling that both the union and the city must follow.
Senate File 123 would have removed the binding arbitration, allowing elected officials the ability to make final decisions, with any arbitration being considered a recommendation.
Representative Charles Scott (R- SD30) said that we could expect this bill to be back in the future, with some modification.
“The issue has been around for at least 30 years to my personal knowledge,” Scott said. “I expect it will be back, but the proposal will have to be more balanced to pass.”
John Hastert (D-SD13) claims that the bill would cause an imbalance in the negotiations between firefighter unions and cities.
“This bill would have given the city too much power over negotiations,” Hastert said. “The city would have been able to entirely ignore the arbitration.”
Hastert called for an immediate vote on the bill after it failed to pass on its first attempt. By calling for an immediate vote, which also failed to pass, senators were able to pass a motion that eliminates the bill from consideration during this legislative session.
Opponents were originally concerned that the bill would create safety concerns, but its sponsor, Dave Kinskey (R- SD22), added an amendment that excludes personal safety equipment from the bill. He hoped this would address some of these concerns
Kinskey sponsored the bill because of his experience as a mayor in Sheridan, where the union has entered arbitration six times in the last ten years. In the other five cities with a firefighter’s union, they have been to arbitration a total of six times in this same ten-year period. According to a Casper Star Tribune story, Kinskey said that arbitration cost the city $30,000 per dispute.
“This is a local issue and it doesn’t require action at the state level,” Hastert said. “Five of the six cities with unions don’t have this problem.”
Laramie’s fire department is one of the five that have only gone to arbitration one or two times in the last ten years.
