The Dover City Council had filed its official objection to collective bargaining for 78 non-union municipal workers requested by the Dover United Employees.
The Wilmington News Journal reports that the letter was sent to the Public Employee Relations Board last week claiming that it would have – in its words – “an adverse effect on the efficient administration of government”.
The Council argued that only half of the employees listed on the petition were eligible while the rest were either supervisors or employees who deal with confidential labor information as part of their jobs.
City officials also claimed that the jobs ranging from librarian to building inspector were too dissimilar to be represented by a single bargaining unit.
During the debate over the 2013 city budget debate, non-bargaining employees strongly opposed plans to raise health-insurance premiums and forgo pay raises for a second year in a row.
Both measures wound up in the final budget.
