Piedmont Publius Sam Hieb notes that Sen. Kay Hagan voted for cloture on a Senate appropriations bill including a provision with a mandate forcing states to allow collective bargaining with unions representing police, firefighters, EMS workers, and other public safety employees.
North Carolina has outlawed unionization of public safety workers for more than half a century. Hagan has been all over the map on this provision, most recently stating on May 25 (through a spokeswoman ? see comments) that she would NOT vote for cloture on the standalone version of the collective bargaining bill.
North Carolinians will have to decide whether the freshman Democrat gets a pass for abandoning her earlier pledge, even though the cloture vote is for a much more expansive piece of legislation.
Read Donna Martinez’s CJ exclusive on the standalone collective bargaining bill here.
