Indiana poised to pass anti-union bill

(AP) 

INDIANAPOLIS - In another blow to organized labor in the traditionally union heavy Midwest, Indiana is poised to become the first right-to-work state in more than a decade after Republican lawmakers cleared the way on Wednesday to ban unions from collecting mandatory fees from workers.

Over the past year, Republicans have pushed for other anti-union laws in battleground Rust Belt states where many of the country's manufacturing jobs reside, including Wisconsin and Ohio, but they also have faced backlash from Democrats and union supporters. Wisconsin last year stripped public sector unions of collective bargaining rights.

Despite massive protests outside the Capitol, Wisconsin's GOP-dominated Assembly passed a law backed by Gov. Scott Walker in March that strips nearly all collective bargaining rights from organized labor. Walker is now preparing for a recall election after opponents turned in a million signatures aimed at forcing a vote and ousting him from office. In November, Ohio voters repealed a law limiting collective bargaining rights that was championed by Gov. John Kasich and fellow Republican lawmakers.

Indiana would mark the first win in 10 years for national right-to-work advocates who have pushed unsuccessfully for the measure in other states following a Republican sweep of statehouses in 2010. But few right-work states boast Indiana's union clout, borne of a long manufacturing legacy.

Oklahoma, with its rural-based economy that produces comparatively fewer union jobs than Indiana, passed right-to-work legislation in 2001.

Indiana's vote came after weeks of protest by minority Democrats who tried various tactics to stop the bill. They refused to show up to debate despite the threat of fines that totaled $1,000 per day and introduced dozens of amendments aimed at delaying a vote. But conceding their tactics could not last forever because they were outnumbered, they finally agreed to allow the vote to take place.

The House voted 54-44 Wednesday to make Indiana the nation's 23rd right-to-work state. The measure is expected to face little opposition in Indiana's Republican-controlled Senate and could reach Republican Gov. Mitch Daniels' desk shortly before the Feb. 5 Super Bowl in Indianapolis.

"This announces, especially in the Rust Belt, that we are open for business here," Republican House Speaker Brian Bosma said of the right-to-work proposal that would ban unions from collecting mandatory representation fees from workers.

House Minority Leader Patrick Bauer said the legislative battle was an "unusual fight" from the beginning, but Democrats waged a noble effort against majority Republicans determined to pass the bill.

"What did they fight for? They fought for less pay, less workplace safety and less health care. This is their only job plank: job creation for less pay with the so-called right to work for less bill."

Hundreds of union protesters packed the halls of the Statehouse again Wednesday, chanting "Kill the Bill!" and cheering Democrats who had stalled the measure since the start of the year.

Few Republicans spoke in favor of the measure during the two-and-a-half hours of debate. Instead Democratic opponents and a handful of Republicans who crossed party lines to oppose the measure, delivered emotional pleas to block it.

Democratic Rep. Linda Lawson called the Republican measure an attack on the union strongholds throughout the state.

"What you are doing is destroying my community!" said Lawson, who represents a northwest Indiana district packed with heavy manufacturers and a major BP oil refinery.

"What if I came into your community and said `No more cows' and `No more pigs?"' she said, referring to the agriculturally heavy districts represented by many of the Republicans who supported the bill.

Republicans foreshadowed their strong showing Monday when they shot down a series of Democratic amendments to the measure in strict party-line votes. Democrats boycotted again for an eighth day

Republicans handily outnumber Democrats in the House 60-40, but Democrats have just enough members to deny the Republicans the 67 votes needed to achieve a quorum and conduct any business. Bosma began fining boycotting Democrats $1,000 a day last week, but a Marion County judge has blocked the collection of those fines.

The measure now moves to the Indiana Senate which approved its own right-to-work measure earlier in the week. Gov. Mitch Daniels has campaigned extensively for the bill and said he would sign it into law.

Indiana AFL-CIO President Nancy Guyott said her team is still working on a long-shot bid to kill the measure in the Indiana Senate.

"We're going to do everything in our power, we're only at the halfway point," Guyott said after the House vote.

Teamsters President Jim Hoffa, in a statement released shortly after the vote, promised a voter backlash like those seen in other Midwest states

"I have little doubt in my mind that Gov. Daniels and Indiana's Republican members of the state House and Senate will see a tremendous backlash from their constituents if right-to-work is passed," Hoffa said. "If there's one thing that we have seen this past year, it's that working men and women will rise up to challenge any legislation that threatens the welfare of their families."

[noloyalisti]

I guess the billionaires did not learn what happened last time when numbnuts Walker in WI started the American Autumn and the Occupy and the 99% Movements. Of course they did not get to be criminally wealthy by caring about human beings or life on earth.

[Zann-Zel]

Walker isn't hanging from a lampost yet........they won't listen until he is.

[thinkalittlebit]

This law gives rights to workers and gives them more influence over their unions. Unions will grow stronger as they now have to work harder be more responsive to their members. Workers benefit when their unions are more responsive to their needs.

[noloyalisti]

We need unions now more than ever to help stop the economic destruction of the US by the top 1%.

There is a reason why they call these laws the right to work for less. And this will affect the pay of all workers in America, union or not.

[Brokennews]

Collective bargaining isn't touched in this bill, so again, specifically what right is being taken away?

[Brokennews]

The bill implies that the worker will be afforded the right to say no thanks to being forced into a union to work someplace. He's being given a right that he didn't have before. Yet, that is being framed by some as worker rights being taken away?

What am I missing?

[noloyalisti]

Collective bargaining for wages is a basic worker right that get taken away by this. I mean, the owner of the corporations are able to negotiate for prices, why not the workers that actually create all the wealth?

[Brokennews]

How do you figure sports fan?

Unions are still there, people can still join if they want, they can still collectively bargain.

Wanna try a different approach?

[noloyalisti]

When does the recall start there. Who do I send money to to help? This is why we need to purge America of all traces of the Republicon Corporation Party of the Top 1%. ASAP.

[DocD--2008]

I hope if they pass it, the NFL says sorry, but we have decided you are NOT hosting the Super Bowl this year and moves it in support for the RIGHT to have unions. Once again RepukliCONS taking away more rights of the American people.

[mikehartigan]

The Republicans are not taking any rights away. Indeed, they are giving the workers a right that they don't have today. The bleeding heart union supporters on this site don't want the workers to have the right to NOT be a union member. Not sure why that's not clear to you.

[Brokennews]

"Once again RepukliCONS taking away more rights of the American people."



Isn't this bill about the right for an individual to say: "No, I don't want to be forced to join your little club & pay you a monthly commission if I want to work here"?

Seems like it's expanding a worker's rights, not taking them away.

Or do you not like workers to not have a choice or a voice??

[midvale3]

If you carry a lunchbox and vote Republican, you're an idiot. They do not support any legislation that helps the middle and lower class but somehow convince people to vote against their own economic interest, somehow getting them to believe the Repugs are the "moral" party.

[mikehartigan]

...as opposed to the Democrats who would force their constituents to join a union against their will as a condition of employment, and demonize those who would give them a choice. Evidently, they're too stupid to make the correct choice. On what do you base your low opinion of working Americans.

[Zann-Zel]

Congrats you have the right to work for minimum wage now!
Good Job Indiana!

[nottblu]

Back in the days of sweatshop jobs unions were a valuable tool for the average worker to guarantee a safe working environment, fair wages, and normal work hours. Today however they are the destroyers of business and industry, they force companies off shore, they are run by mobsters and thugs, they intimidate employees and collect outragious fees, they are no longer needed, in fact the vast majority of employed citizens are not union members. This is about letting a worker have a CHOICE to decide whether or not he or she joins a union, of course the union thugs want the enslavement guarantee, it's all about the money and power not about the worker!

[endpcnow]

Just wondering . . . how does the non-union company employees "force" the company to do something in their favor? One might suggest not working there but in this economy, in these times, is that really an option?

[mikehartigan]

If the workers are so supportive of unions in Indiana, then this is a moot issue, since it puts the unions' fate in the hands of the workers. Indeed, since union members tend to be Democrats, it's the Democrats who would be responsible if the unions fail as a result of this. And, right on cue, the Republican politicians will get the blame.

[wolfmagic2012]

Hopefully Indianans won't sit and take this assault, but recall the screwball Daniels just like Walker. Walker is toast in Wisconsin, and the wave of his defeat will wash over Indiana, Florida, Michigan, Penn., Ohio and New Jersey (Listening, Fatty?) -- The Republicans are working overtime for their overlords to make the middle class disappear - they are attacking me and my family AND are attacking the fabric of the USA. I say screw every single Republican - defeat every single Republican, and when their party is in the dumpster of defeat, maybe THEN the disgusting Republicans can rebuild the GOP to be a party for ALL Americans rather than just special, bought-out, corporate interest.

[inketolstoy]

But you realize your dream, who will be left to blame when the beurocrats wearing the donkey masks keep doing the same things you blame the elephant masks for now?