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"Right to work" zones again the focus of GOP weekly message

For a second straight week, the Delaware GOP is using its weekly message to push for “right-to-work” legislation in the First State.

Senate Minority Whip Greg Lavelle and House Minority leader Danny Short recently introduced a bill that would create targeted “right-to-work” zones in an effort to lure manufacturing jobs to the First State.

This week, the GOP turned to Sussex County resident Opie Lawson to make the case. 

Lawson was among the workers laid off at the former DuPont nylon plant in Seaford in 2001.  He went on to open his own business, First State Flag, in Georgetown, but says others were not able to recover from the loss of those manufacturing jobs. 

He says “right-to-work” zones could help bring similar jobs back.

The bill doesn’t advocate turning Delaware into a right to work state.  Far from it.  Instead, by offering unique incentives to manufacturers, it would turn some of our state’s shuttered or under-utilized facilities – like the Seaford plant where I once worked – into vibrant manufacturing plants once again. 

Democrats oppose such measures, arguing they are essentially efforts to kill unions. A spokeswoman for Gov. Jack Markell says studies on right-to-work legislation are “inconclusive at best.”

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Full text of GOP weekly message:

Hi, my name is Opie Lawson. I live outside of Lewes Delaware. The reason I'm speaking to you today is that I want to express my support for a bill introduced recently in Dover that I believe would help bring manufacturing jobs back to Delaware.

So, why should you care what I think?  See, years ago I had one of those great manufacturing jobs Delaware was once known for - at the DuPont nylon plant in Seaford. I thought I would there for decades, and retire from there like many had done before. But in 2001, after 11 years working there, I was told - along with hundreds of other blue-collar employees - that I was out of a job. We all thought we'd be back at work at some other plant, making similar wages. But for most of us, that never happened. Since then, Delaware has lost about 14,000 manufacturing jobs, an astounding 35 percent drop.

Today, I have my own business, First State Flag, located here in Georgetown. But many of my DuPont co-workers never really recovered from being laid off. They have really, really struggled. I'd like nothing more than to see these and other hard-working Delawareans get the good-paying jobs they deserve. I'd like to see manufacturing jobs in Delaware that would provide steady, certain employment for generations of our neighbors.

A bill introduced by Senator Greg Lavelle could help make that happen, by creating something called right-to-work "zones." The bill doesn't advocate turning Delaware into a right to work state. Far from it. Instead, by offering unique incentives to manufacturers, it would turn some of our state's shuttered or under-utilized facilities - like the Seaford plant where I once worked - into vibrant manufacturing plants once again.

It's time to do whatever it takes to make Delaware the powerful manufacturing state it once was. Delaware's thousands of unemployed manufacturing workers deserve better. Let's be the change we want to see. Thank you.

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