Indiana will become first Rust Belt state with right-to-work law

[jaxx]

Indiana will become first Rust Belt state with right-to-work law
February 1, 2012 | 10:58 am

Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels on Wednesday is set to make his state the first in the Rust Belt -- once the home of powerful unions -- to have a right-to-work law. The measure received final legislative passage Wednesday morning, and Daniels was expected to sign it later in the day.

The bill, which has galvanized labor opposition, passed the Republican-controlled Senate 28-22 on an accelerated pace to avoid any conflict with this weekend’s Super Bowl XLVI. The game will be held Sunday in Indianapolis, and Daniels warned earlier in the week that any Super Bowl protests over the law would be a mistake.

Daniels' signature on the measure will make Indiana the 23rd state in the nation to have a right-to-work law, according to his office.

The measure would allow workers to avoid paying dues to a union even if the workplace, private or public, is unionized. Unions dislike such a law because, they say, it creates free riders -- people who benefit from union-negotiated contracts without having to pay for the cost of bargaining or maintaining the contract. Conservatives argue that forcing someone to pay dues violates their rights.

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/nationno...-belt.html

What a rotten shame. The pubs once again stick it to the people.

[NJMaverick]

that makes me scratch my head every time I hear a union member bash a Democrat. Granted most union members are good Democrats, but there are a surprising number of union people that vote for the GOP.

[Brewman_Jax]

Have they seen how it's working out for the rest of the right-to-work states? I guess not.

[jaxx]

February 02, 2012 8:17 AM
Indiana Smites Unions
By Ed Kilgore

Yesterday, with Gov. Mitch Daniels’ signature, Indiana became the 23d state, and the very first (other than Indiana itself during a brief period ending in 1965) in the industrial northeast and midwest, to enact “right-to-work” legislation—or as folk in the labor movement call it, a “right to work for less” law.

Politically, it could reflect a shift of conservative and Republican anti-labor strategy from a focus on reducing the strength of public-sector unions (rationalized by alleged budget savings to be achieved by reducing wages and benefits for public employees) to a broader and more open attack on organizing and collective bargaining rights.

<..> Most supporters of “right-to-work” laws don’t even both to get into their pros and cons, just taking it for granted that unions are a bad thing and that workers struggling under their yoke would give anything to regain the right to flex their muscles in individual negotiations with their employers (joke!).

But as someone who grew up in the right-to-work Deep South, I can assure Indianans that from a psychological point of view they are about to enter a brave new world where an ever-neurotic desire to keep corporations happy always seems to trump any consideration of fair play or workers’ rights. Welcome to the Old South, Hoosiers! Misery loves company.

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/politic...35149.php#

I wonder if the people of Indiana really want this, or is it the pubs in power?