Mayor of Ocean City v. Bunting

An amendment to the Ocean City Charter, proposed by the City Council and passed by referendum vote in 2002, permits “employees” of the Ocean City Police Department to engage in collective bargaining with respect to “the formulation and implementation of personnel policies affecting their employment.” 1 It further directs the Ocean City Council to enact a labor code and, within that code, to address “[t]he manner of establishing units appropriate for collective bargaining.”

To comply with this electoral directive, the Council adopted a labor code. But, that code, in establishing collective…