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H 7042Labor Relations

Labor and Labor Relations - Labor Relations Act

This bill legalizes strikes for teachers, municipal and state workers, and healthcare staff, while keeping bans for public safety personnel.

Held for study
Population
Affected
42
Email Legislator
Introduced Jan 9, 2026Committee House Labor

Plain-English Summary

This legislation grants the legal right to strike to several groups of public employees who were previously prohibited from doing so. Specifically, it extends this right to certified public school teachers, municipal employees, and state employees. The bill also removes the strike prohibition for healthcare provider employees, though it mandates mediation and arbitration for this group in the event of an impasse. However, the bill explicitly maintains the ban on strikes for public safety personnel, including police officers, firefighters, correctional officers, and 911 employees.

For younger readers

Imagine if your teacher or the people who pick up the trash wanted to stop working to ask for better pay or rules. Before, there was a law saying they were not allowed to stop working together, which is called a "strike." This new bill changes that rule. Now, teachers, town workers, and hospital workers are allowed to go on strike if they need to. However, police officers, firefighters, and emergency workers still have to go to work no matter what, because their jobs are necessary to keep everyone safe right away.

Who & Where It Applies

Impacted groups
Public School TeachersMunicipal EmployeesState EmployeesHealthcare WorkersTaxpayers
Impacted communities
All

Constitutional & Fiscal Check

None Likely

Estimated cost
Amount unknown
Estimated revenue
None

Bill Analysis

Both viewpoints
For Progressives
  • Restores the fundamental right of freedom of association and collective bargaining to public sector workers, correcting a historical imbalance of power between labor and the state.
  • Empowers essential workers, particularly teachers and municipal staff, to advocate more effectively for fair living wages, better benefits, and safer working conditions.
  • Aligns state labor laws with broader human rights standards that view the right to withhold labor as a critical tool for preventing exploitation in the workplace.
  • Potential strikes in public schools and municipal services could disproportionately disrupt the lives of low-income families who rely heavily on these free public services for childcare and support.
  • The continued prohibition of strikes for correctional officers maintains the special protected status of the carceral system, which many progressives seek to reform or dismantle.
  • Mandating arbitration for healthcare workers creates a two-tiered system of rights, suggesting that the rights of healthcare laborers are secondary to operational continuity.
For Conservatives
  • Explicitly reinforces and expands the ban on strikes for critical "law and order" positions, including police officers, firefighters, correctional officers, and 911 operators.
  • Imposes mandatory mediation and arbitration on healthcare provider employees, preventing potentially life-threatening disruptions in medical services and private healthcare businesses.
  • Provides absolute legal clarity on which government sectors are essential, potentially reducing litigation regarding the definition of illegal "sick-outs" for public safety personnel.
  • Empowers public sector unions to shut down government services and schools, effectively holding taxpayers hostage to demand higher wages and benefits.
  • Will likely result in significant tax increases to fund the concessions that government officials will be forced to make to end or prevent strikes.
  • Undermines the concept of public service and the rule of law by allowing government employees to refuse to perform the statutory duties they were hired to fulfill.

Votes

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Full Bill Text

Changes to existing Rhode Island law · 14 additions · 16 deletions

SECTION 1. Section 28-7-45 of the General Laws in Chapter 28-7 entitled "Labor Relations Act" is hereby amended to read as follows: 28-7-45. Employees exempt from chapter.

(a) The provisions of this chapter shall not apply: (1) To the employees of any employer who concedes to and agrees with the board that the employees are subject to and protected by the provisions of the Labor Management Relations Act, 1947, 29 U.S.C. § 141 et seq., or the Railway Labor Act, 45 U.S.C. § 151 et seq.; (2) Except as provided in Chapter 11 of title 36 as to employees of the state; (3) Except as provided in chapter 9.4 of this title as to employees of any political or civil subdivision or other agency thereof; (4) Except “firefighters” as defined in chapter 9.1 of this title and “police officers” as defined in chapter 9.2 of this title; or (5) Except “school teachers” as defined in chapter 9.3 of this title; provided, that in the case of firefighters, police officers, and healthcare provider employees, including those of hospitals, nursing homes, ambulatory care centers, and orphanages, the provisions of this chapter shall apply, but nothing contained in this chapter shall be deemed in any manner to grant to any firefighters, or police officers, or healthcare provider employees, including those of hospitals, nursing homes, ambulatory care centers, and orphanages, the right to engage in any strike. Any strike by any firefighters, or police officers, or healthcare provider employees, including those of hospitals, nursing homes, ambulatory care centers, and orphanages, shall be illegal.

(b) When an impasse is reached by an employer and a union representing healthcare provider employees, including those of hospitals, nursing homes, ambulatory care centers, and orphanages, the mediation services of the department of labor and training shall be utilized for mediation and factfinding. If the issues remain unresolved, then the parties shall proceed to arbitration in accordance with the rules of the American Arbitration Association.

SECTION 2. Section 28-9.3-1 of the General Laws in Chapter 28-9.3 entitled "Certified School Teachers’ Arbitration" is hereby amended to read as follows: 28-9.3-1. Declaration of policy — Purpose.

(a) In pursuance of the duty imposed upon it by the constitution to promote public schools and to adopt all means necessary and proper to secure to the people the advantages and opportunities of education, the general assembly declares that it recognizes teaching as a profession that requires special educational qualifications and that to achieve high quality education it is indispensable that good relations exist between teaching personnel and school committees.

(b) It is declared to be the public policy of this state to accord to certified public school teachers the right to organize, to be represented, to negotiate professionally, to strike, and to bargain on a collective basis with school committees covering hours, salary, working conditions, and other terms of professional employment; provided, that nothing contained in this chapter shall be construed to accord to certified public school teachers the right to strike.

SECTION 3. Sections 28-9.4-1 and 28-9.4-16 of the General Laws in Chapter 28-9.4 entitled "Municipal Employees’ Arbitration" are hereby amended to read as follows: 28-9.4-1. Declaration of policy — Purpose. It is declared to be the public policy of this state to accord to municipal employees the right to organize, to be represented, to negotiate, and to bargain on a collective basis with municipal employers, covering hours, salary, working conditions and other terms of employment; provided, that nothing contained in this chapter shall be construed to accord to municipal employees the right to strike. 28-9.4-16. Strikes by municipal employees illegal Strikes by municipal firefighters and police officers illegal. Municipal employees firefighters and police officers covered by the provisions of this chapter shall not have the right to engage in any strike, work stoppage, or slowdown strike; and any strike, work stoppage, or slowdown strike by municipal firefighters or police officers shall be illegal.

SECTION 4. Section 36-11-6 of the General Laws in Chapter 36-11 entitled "Organization of State Employees" is hereby amended to read as follows: 36-11-6. Powers of representative organizations. Organizations representing state employees, firefighters as defined in § 28-9.1-3, and police officers as defined in § 28-9.2-3, shall enjoy all the benefits of and be subject to all the provisions of chapter 7 of title 28, except that those employees firefighters, correctional officers, 911 employees, and police officers shall not have the right to strike.

SECTION 5. This act shall take effect upon passage.