Catherwood LibraryILR School

What started off as a legal dispute in Phoenix about police officers who were being paid while performing work for their union has led to an Arizona State bill that would bar cities from paying civil servants for anytime spent performing work for their unions. The bill which has passed the State Senate Committee on Government and Environment. The impetus for the bill come, at least in part, from a ruling by a County Superior Court judge who ruled that paying for activities which don?t benefit the public, ?release time? being one listed activity, is against the Arizona Constitution. Soon after the judge?s ruling in January, the city of Phoenix came to an agreement with its unions to provide extra vacation time that would be used for union duties. The plaintiff in that battle, the Goldwater Institute, has said that it would seek an injunction against those agreements because, it argues, they are merely a way to skirt the judge?s guidance.