Union Preference Legislation in Delaware Continues to Warrant Close Attention

Back in March, I blogged about the emergence of a union preference bill. See here (stating “Wow!  Talk about a development”). Among other things, that bill would have required that projects above a certain amount include a “project labor agreement” in the contract construction project and that such involve at least one “labor organization.” A project labor agreement was defined as a collective bargaining agreement with one or more labor organization (i.e., those eligible to be paid prevailing wages under Delaware law). Essentially, the bill would have assured work to a union (as opposed to a non-unionized company) and limited options for negotiating (e.g., as to the labor cost).

Although that bill did not become law and would now need to be reintroduced as a new bill at the state level, readers should beware that a similar ordinance was proposed at the New Castle County level (i.e., introduced on 9/12/16). See here. It was on the agenda for consideration at the New Castle County Council meeting scheduled for September 27, 2016. See here (under section I).  It was then removed by the sponsor during that meeting.

Most expect that this issue will remain a hot one at both the state and county levels.