Source: The Logan Banner
August 20, 2024
LOGAN — During a recent meeting, members of the Logan County Commission voted to hire outside legal counsel to handle the ongoing issue of whether county employees have the right to collectively bargain.
On Tuesday, Aug 13, with several members of the United Mine Workers of America (UMWA) in attendance, Commission President Diana Barnette motioned to hire Steptoe & Johnson, PLLC to represent the commission in “any dealings with the UMWA.” Steptoe & Johnson is a large nationwide firm specializing in handling U.S. energy, labor and employment, litigation, and transactional law.
“Since we’ve never had any kind of experience in this kind of matter, we felt like — I feel like — that we could benefit from some outside counsel so we don’t do something wrong,” Barnette said.
Steptoe & Johnson operates a firm in Charleston and Barnette said the specific attorney working with the commission is Michael Moore. According to his official bio on Steptoe & Johnson’s website, Moore is “often tapped to represent public and private employers as they navigate high-pressure traditional labor relations matters.”
Back in November 2023, employees of the Logan County Commission voted for the UMWA to represent them to collectively bargain in an employee contract. Commissioners declined to sign onto an official UMWA resolution, with Barnette saying at the time that county employees have always been heard.
“They’ve always had a voice in the workplace,” Barnette said. “They didn’t need a union to have a voice in the workplace.”
Since that time, representatives from the UMWA have attended several different meetings of the Logan County Commission asking for updates on where negotiations with the county stand. Earlier this year, commission counsel David Wandling noted state code 18-5-45a which states that public employees in the Mountain State have “no right, statutory or otherwise, to engage in collective bargaining, mediation, or arbitration, and any work stoppage or strike by public employees is hereby declared to be unlawful.”
During the Aug. 13 meeting, some members of the UMWA were once again in attendance. William Chapman, a representative who is usually the one to come to the podium, once again asked where things were.
Written by: Dylan Vidovich
