Why Other Lawyers Fault Legal Opinion That Scuttled Local Right-to-Work Law
GEORGETOWN, Delaware—County officials who rejected a right-to-work ordinance were poorly served by the county attorney’s flawed legal opinion, other lawyers argue.
The five-member Sussex County Council, all Republicans, voted down the bill 4-1 on Jan. 9 after listening to County Attorney J. Everett Moore express concerns about its legality.
Moore read from an 11-page opinion, explaining why in his view the council doesn’t have the authority to pass a right-to-work law and would expose the county to legal action by labor unions.
But one labor lawyer called Moore’s legal basis “pure mythology.”
And another Delaware attorney told The Daily Signal that he “could not disagree more” with the county attorney.
Generally, right-to-work laws prohibit employers in the private sector from entering into agreements that make union membership and payment of union dues a condition of employment for their workers.
A total of 28 states and the territory of Guam ban forced unionization as right-to-work jurisdictions, with Kentucky, Indiana, Michigan, Wisconsin, and West Virginia all making the move since 2012. Sussex County is one of three counties in Delaware.
While acknowledging the actions of counties in other parts of the country, Moore told Sussex County Council members he was not convinced, based on his reading of the …read more