AFT-NH Testimony in opposition to HB1704
Chairman Creighton and members of the House Labor Committee
My name is Debrah Howes, President of the American Federation of Teachers New Hampshire.
I am here to express the strenuous opposition of our 3500 members across the Granite State to HB 1704 and urge you to find it Inexpedient to Legislate.
The bill is marketed as “employee choice,” but it would actually create chaos, higher costs, and legal risk for towns, school districts, and the State of New Hampshire. Its text authorizes public employees to bargain individually with public employers, establishes a parallel system to existing collective bargaining, and adds criminal penalties for peaceful advocacy.
HB 1704 is not employee choice. It is fragmentation. New Hampshire already has a lawful, democratic process for public employees to choose representation and bargain collectively. Nothing in current law forces anyone into union membership. HB 1704 would dismantle the single, transparent bargaining process and replace it with hundreds of one‑off negotiations, where no individual employee has leverage against the employer. That is why collective bargaining exists in the first place: to make negotiations fair, transparent, and efficient under one agreement and one set of rules.
The bill invites favoritism and retaliation, which is exactly what collective bargaining prevents. When each person negotiates alone, supervisors can pressure individuals who lack leverage, reward favorites, and punish those who speak up. By contrast, unions and collective agreements are how we ensure consistent standards apply fairly across the board: pay scales, safety protocols, leave policies, evaluations, and due process. HB 1704 deliberately replaces that stability with a patchwork of private deals that will vary from person to person and department to department.
Administratively, HB 1704 will create a paperwork factory and a money pit that will increase the strain on local property taxpayers. If individuals negotiate separately, HR, payroll, benefits administration, scheduling, evaluations, and grievances all become a mosaic of individualized rules. Conflicting provisions are inevitable, leading to inequities, disputes, and constant renegotiation. Even the bill’s own fiscal analysis flags the impact as “indeterminable,” which should be a flashing warning light for every fiscally responsible legislator.
The bill also goes far beyond just bargaining mechanics by criminalizing advocacy activity. HB 1704 declares picketing and boycotts illegal in this context and backs that up with criminal penalties. Blanket criminalization of peaceful advocacy is extreme and an unconstitutional overreach. If, or more likely when, these restrictions are challenged in court, cities, towns, and the state will end up paying to defend it. That is a legal and financial risk New Hampshire taxpayers do not need.
Not only is HB1704 a paperwork and financial nightmare waiting to happen; it is also a bill nobody asked for. Let us be candid. This is an ideologically driven effort, not a worker‑driven reform. We do not see a groundswell of public employees asking for HB 1704. As a matter of fact, New Hampshire’s public workers from many sectors are speaking out to make sure they can continue having a strong voice in their workplaces through collective bargaining. They understand that this bill undermines their collective voice.
HB 1704 only applies to some public employees: it explicitly exempts law enforcement, firefighters, EMS, and corrections from this destabilizing scheme, while applying it to everyone else. It is an attempt at weakening certain unions while sparing others, a transparent divide‑and‑conquer tactic that should concern every worker and every taxpayer. Granite State workers are smarter than that. In fact, firefighters have publicly opposed this approach and stood with other workers, rejecting the supporters’ argument that this has anything to do with “freedom.”
Proponents say this is about modernizing government and giving people options. The reality in the bill text says otherwise. It replaces a single, efficient, open process with hundreds of fragmented negotiations that will drive up costs and sow inequity across our public workplaces. It invites favoritism and retaliation. It criminalizes traditional worker advocacy. It carves out favored groups while targeting others. And it leaves taxpayers holding the bag, again, when the lawsuits and administrative bills come due.
Public service works when everyone plays by the same fair, transparent rules and when employees can negotiate on equal footing through one contract. That is what collective bargaining provides, and it is why HB 1704 should be rejected.
On behalf of the teachers, paraeducators, school staff, and public employees of AFT-NH, I urge you to find HB 1704 Inexpedient to Legislate.
Sincerely,
Debrah Howes
President, AFT-New Hampshire