Oklahoma Senate panel votes to axe city union rights

[The Northerner]

OKLAHOMA CITY -- Municipal workers in large Oklahoma cities could lose their collective bargaining rights under a Republican-sponsored bill approved by a Senate committee.

The bill passed the Senate General Government Committee on Monday on a 5-3 party-line vote, with all three Democrats on the panel opposing the measure.

Non-uniformed city workers like sanitation employees, road crews and water treatment workers in cities with more than 35,000 people were given the right to collectively bargain under a bill passed by the Legislature in 2004.

The bill approved on Monday would give cities the option of whether to collectively bargain with its employees.

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