A bill that was hotly debated last week at the State House would alter the roster on the state's Joint Labor Management Committee (JLMC), which manages labor disputes between police/fire unions and cities.

Cambridge police support the bill. They don't boast membership in a nationally recognized union (like, say, the International Brotherhood of Police Officers), but are represented by the the Massachusetts Municipal Police Officers Coalition (MMPC), a loosely confederated group of independent local unions.

Charles Stefanini, the MMPC's lobbyist, explained to a group of legislators that his organization doesn't currently have direct input about who sits on the JLMC. "We are the only organization representing independent police unions, so we represent a constituency that has, in our view, a unique perspective to these deliberations and activities," he said. "That voice is not there now. This legislation would add that voice. We see no reason not to do that, unless there was somebody who had an interest in excluding the voice of 1,500 police officers in 24 communities."

Bear with some bureaucratic jargon for a moment: The current law which hasn't changed since 1987, mandates that the governor select 12 committee members, picking three firefighters and three police officers from nominations presented by major labor organizations (like the AFL-CIO, the SEIU, etc), as well as six submitted by the Advisory Commission on Local Government. That committee of 12 nominates a chairman and vice-chair to lead them, pending the governor's approval.

The proposed bill would enlarge the board to 16 appointees, who would then vote on their chair and vice-chair from within. And, it would allow the MMPC to be among the state and national unions who nominate appointees for the police officer positions.

Larger unions oppose the bill. Raymond McGrath, of the International Brotherhood of Police Officers (part of the SEIU) said the JLMC has run smoothly for 30 years, and called the MMPC's testimony "misleading." To further confuse you by throwing another acronym into the mix, McGrath argued that the Massachusetts Police Association (MPA)—a nonprofit interest group—already appoints from the local unions that the MPPC claims to represent. (None of the current four police reps are from the MMPC's unions.) "Unfortunately, we don't have one group that represents everybody in the union sense," McGrath said. "But we do have a group that represents everybody, and that's the Massachusetts Police Association. They are on the committee, and on the case."

With the legislative session over for the year, the bill will sit on Beacon Hill until 2010.