The Sussex County Council deferred a vote on a proposed right to work ordinance Tuesday.
The decision comes after a more than four-hour public hearing on the controversial measure. Dozens of protesters gathered outside the Sussex County Administrative Building in the freezing cold to voice opposition to the proposal - while the hearing itself was at times contentious.
Sussex County’s proposed ordinance prohibits making union membership a condition of employment or requiring workers to pay union dues.
Supporters of right to work say the ordinance will create more jobs and increase the number of employers in the county. But others call it the right to work for less pay and benefits.
Patricia Lake worked for Pinnacle Foods in Millsboro before it closed in 2012. She says Pinnacle Foods played the union in Millsboro and another at its Michigan plant against each other to see who would accept wage cuts.
“You know, we were exchanged three times and we went into bankruptcy once and were still able to come back," she said. "The union stuck with us. Sometimes we only got like a one percent raise. But, it was a one percent raise.”
But the ordinance’s sponsor Councilman Rob Arlett, said hypothetically making $2 or $3 less an hour is better than nothing - noting Pinnacle and its jobs are now gone.
Gary Lessner, a shop steward for Safeway in Rehoboth Beach, said he remembers his father being on strike in Baltimore fighting for another 5 cents an hour. He said the right to work proposal is unfair to union members who have spent years fighting for better pay and benefits.
“Now if you bring people in who are going to get the same benefits that it took 50 years or more to get in these places and have them working right next to somebody and they’re not paying anything," he said. "It’s ridiculous. You’re going to cause a lot of contention for the most part.”
Some opponents say the county does not have the legal authority to pass a right to work measure. The state’s Solicitor General made that argument in a letter sent to Council last November.
Delaware Republican Party Secretary Carol Bodine told council members the conservative Caesar Rodney Institute has lawyers and money to help defend the ordinance, if it passes.
Bodine added county residents opposing right to work probably don’t support the Council members, who are all registered Republicans.
