The last thing cash-strapped counties need is to be forced to bargain with a union over pay for its public safety workers.

That’s the sentiment of Cherokee County Council after learning that Congress is considering passage of the Public Safety Employer-Employee Cooperation Act. The Act, if passed, would federally mandate state and local governments to collectively bargain with police, fire and EMS unions.

Cherokee County Councilman Rufus Foster caught wind of the legislation and convinced his fellow council members this past week to pass a resolution that urges U.S. Senators Jim DeMint and Lindsey Graham to vote against the budget-busting measure.

The bill is attached to the Iraq-Afghanistan War Supplemental Appropriations Act and has been forwarded to a conference committee to iron out difference between the House and Senate versions.

According to the South Carolina Association of Counties legislative alert, the bill would pre-empt South Carolina’s public policy of prohibiting collective bargaining for public employees and require that police, fire and EMS workers have the right to form and join a union that is the exclusive bargaining representative of the employees.

The bill also would require local governments to recognize and bargain with those unions.

The bargaining would cover hours, wages and terms of employment.