345.020 Policy and purpose. (1) Whereas, the denial by some public employers of the right of firefighters to organize and the refusal by such employers to accept the procedure of collective bargaining leads to various forms of strife and unrest, with the consequent effect of obstructing public business. Unresolved disputes in the public service are injurious to the public, the governmental agencies involved, and the firefighters. (2) Whereas, experience has proved that protection by law of the right of public employees to organize and bargain collectively safeguards the public business from injury, impairment, or interruptions, and promotes public business by removing certain recognized sources of strife and unrest, by encouraging practices fundamental to the friendly adjustment of disputes arising out of differences as to wages, hours, or other working conditions, and by creating equality of bargaining power between employers and employees. (3) Whereas, it is hereby declared to be the policy of the State of Kentucky to eliminate the causes of certain substantial obstructions to public business and to mitigate and eliminate these obstructions when they have occurred by encouraging the practice and procedure of collective bargaining and by protecting the exercise by firefighters of full freedom of association, self-organization, and designation of representatives of their own choosing, for the purpose of negotiating the terms and conditions of their employment or other mutual aid or protection. History: Created 1972 Ky. Acts ch. 120, sec. 3.