§ 28-9.6-2 - Statement of policy. - Rhode Island Statutes

SECTION 28-9.6-2

   § 28-9.6-2  Statement of policy. – (a) The protection of the public health, safety, and welfare demands that thefull-time 911 employees of the state of Rhode Island not be accorded the rightto strike or engage in any work stoppage or slowdown. This necessaryprohibition does not require the denial to such state employees of other wellrecognized rights of labor, such as the right to organize, to be represented byan organization of their choice, and the right to bargain collectivelyconcerning wages, rates of pay, and other terms and conditions of employment.

   (b) It is declared to be the public policy of this state toaccord to the full-time 911 employees of the state all of the rights of laborother than the right to strike or engage in any work stoppage or slowdown. Toprovide for the exercise of these rights, a method of arbitration of disputesis established.

   (c) The establishment of this method of arbitration shallnot, in any way, be deemed to be recognition by the state of compulsoryarbitration as a superior method of settling labor disputes between employeeswho possess the right to strike and their employers, but rather is arecognition solely of the necessity to provide some alternative mode ofsettling disputes where employees must as a matter of public policy, be deniedthe usual right to strike.