Delaware County Could Miss Right-to-Work Boom, Chief of Kentucky County Predicts

 
 

GEORGETOWN, Delaware—Despite one county’s decision to reject a right-to-work law, Delaware will remain the only state in the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic with a local statute prohibiting imposition of union mandates on private sector employees.

The town of Seaford intends to move ahead with its right-to-work law even though surrounding Sussex County backed down in the face of pressure from labor unions whose leaders argued that the change would drive down wages.

“Right to work is one tool that will help to improve our competitive posture so we can lure in new businesses,” Seaford Mayor David Genshaw told The Daily Signal in an interview.

And in Kentucky, where local action to pass right-to-work laws has galvanized the movement, one county official says Seaford did the right thing for its residents last month even as Sussex County backed down this week.

“People are noticing that Warren County, Kentucky, is a great business-friendly place to live, to work, or to start a business,” Mike Buchanon, the county’s judge-executive, told The Daily Signal.

Right-to-work laws prohibit private sector employers from entering into agreements that make union membership and payment of union dues a condition of employment.

Since Warren County’s right-to-work ordinance went into effect, Buchanon said, the county seat …read more