United Counties and Cities of America? Stunning Court Ruling Against Unions

A three-judge federal appeals court in Kentucky (all Republican appointees) has made a stunning and unprecedented ruling. Hardin County enacted a law that prohibits unions from collecting mandatory dues.

The stunning part is that federal labor law allows states to enact these types of “right-to-work” laws. A county is not a state. The Sixth Circuit reasoned that since a county is a subdivision of a state, whatever a state can do, a county can do.

This concept is part of Gov. Rauner’s “turn-around” agenda. A few localities in Illinois have considered enactment of the Kentucky-style law.

Let’s put this to a logic test.

States license occupations such as teachers, physicians, attorneys, electricians and so on. So, if a state can perform a licensing function, by the court’s reasoning, your county can license private sector occupations (contrary to the state). That’ll be interesting.

Possible silver lining: The Immigration Reform and Control Act is the primary employment law that relates to millions of people that President-Elect Trump wants to deport (note aside— there is no evidence that the U.S. harbors millions of criminal aliens, so he actually intends to deport aliens who have no criminal convictions).

This federal law—like federal labor law— has a “carve-out” for state authority. Arizona has used that exception to enact state laws that enhance federal sanctions for immigration violations.

Let’s go back to the Sixth Circuit’s logic that whatever a state can do, its political subdivisions have the same authority. By that logic, I’d look for large cities to enact their local immigration employment laws.

Reality check: The National Labor Relations Act in the Kentucky case is a federal law that has now been fragmented into a county-by-county legal regime by the Sixth Circuit (the law is not titled the County Labor Relations Act). This undermines the point of having a stable and uniform federal law. And, as we are witnessing with sanctuary cities, local governments are following a similar logic. Whatever you think about unions and immigration, this much is clear: As a nation, we are drifting toward the United Counties and Cities of America.