Rapid Response Action Call: HB 1704 Undermines Collective Bargaining for Public Employees

Click here to download this Action Call as a PDF.

HB 1704 is an out-of-state attack on collective bargaining rights for public employees in New Hampshire, including USW members working at Manchester Water. The bill allows employees to bypass their union and bargain individually with their employer, while still keeping union-negotiated wages, benefits, and protections. It bans union representation in grievances and criminalizes routine union activity.

These are the core features of Right-to-Work. HB 1704 weakens unions by design, creates free riders, and shifts power away from working people. It also creates chaos for towns and cities by forcing public employers to manage countless individual agreements, increasing costs, legal risk, and instability. This bill is bad for workers, bad for public employers, and bad for New Hampshire.

Just this week, the House Labor, Industrial and Rehabilitative Services Committee announced that they will hold a public hearing on HB 1704-FN on Tuesday, January 27, at 3:15 PM. This late notice gives working people very little time to respond, which makes your participation even more critical.

We need a strong showing, both on the record, to make clear that public employees and allies across New Hampshire oppose this attack on collective bargaining.

Oppose HB 1704

1. Visit the Online Testimony Portal
2. Fill in your personal information
3. On the Meeting Schedule Calendar, select Tuesday, January 27
4. Under “Select the Committee,” choose House Labor, Industrial and Rehabilitative Services
5. Under “Choose the Bill,” select 3:15 PM – HB 1704
6. In the “I am” dropbox, select Member of the Public (or the option that best applies)
7. In “I’m Representing,” list your organization or write “myself”
8. Under “Indicate Your Position on this Bill,” check “I oppose this bill”
9. Add written testimony if you wish (optional), then click Submit
10. Review your entry and click Submit again to complete your opposition

For more information on this issue or how you can get more involved with Rapid Response, please contact District 4 Rapid Response Coordinator, Mark McDonald, at [email protected].