The issues presented by proposed federal laws covering collective bargaining for public employees are perhaps the most important issues confronting public officials and the general functioning of representative government in our society. HR 8677 (and to a lesser extent HR 9730) is unacceptable because (1) it provides for federal regulation of state and local government employees; (2) it includes supervisors in the coverage of the law, leaving the public employer and the public without adequate representation; (3) it establishes unrestricted bargaining, allowing unions to virtually control the quantity, quality, and the general form of public services; (4) it legalizes strikes and establishes binding arbitration of interest issues; (5) it subjects all management decisions to the grievance process; and (6) it locks into unions public employees who should have a free choice to belong, or not to belong, to unions. Collective bargaining is a process of labor relations, not a device to determine public policy. (Author/IRT)