Schuylkill County Democratic Commissioner Gary J. Hess once more tried to get his Republican colleagues to repeal a Feb. 26 resolution supporting proposed changes to a law requiring local governments to automatically deduct union dues from public employees paychecks.

Again, he was met with defeat when neither commissioner Chairman Frank J. Staudenmeier nor George F. Halcovage Jr. supported his motion.Hess prefaced his call by saying the County Commissioners Association of Pennsylvania had removed a similar resolution from the agenda at a recent conference, and that the proposals are stalled in the state legislature.Neither Staudenmeier nor Halcovage commented on Hess' motion at a workshop meeting Wednesday.On March 12, Hess presented commissioners with a resolution supporting continued union dues collections by local governments on behalf of public employees.On March 16, former Democratic state Rep. Tim Seip of Pine Grove, who serves as secretary for the county Democratic Committee Executive Board, also asked commissioners to repeal the Feb. 26 resolution.The issue is split along partisan lines, with Republicans supporting the changes and Democrats opposed.The bills, House Bill 1507, co-sponsored by state Rep. Jerry Knowles, R-Schuylkill, and Senate Bill 1034, would bar unions from negotiating the automatic union dues deductions from paychecks.Prison guards, firefighters and police officers unions are exempt from the legislation.