Indiana House passes bill limiting unions’ powers
Neighboring states may be next targets
INDIANAPOLIS – Lawmakers on Wednesday all but guaranteed Indiana will become the first Midwest, industrial state to limit the ability of labor unions to collect dues, but opponents are not giving up and plan to leverage next week’s Super Bowl here to amplify the debate.
The Indiana Right to Work bill makes it illegal for union membership to be required or for unions to collect dues from nonmembers.
Union leaders say the measures will hobble their ability to bargain for better wages, but business interests said they are key to attracting new investment to the state.
Labor union members packed the Indiana Capitol this week, first to watch a partisan debate over the legislation, then to show support for Democratic lawmakers who staged a walkout to stall it. The Indiana debate was the latest battle between economic ideologies defined by the national tea party and Occupy movements.
On Wednesday, Democrats ended their boycott and the House voted 54-44 to pass the bill. The legislation moves to the Senate, which has already approved a version of the bill, before it goes to the desk of Republican Gov. Mitch Daniels, who has made right-to-work the top agenda item in the last year of his final term and is certain to sign it into law.
“This isn’t over for us,” said Jeff Harris, spokesman for the Indiana State AFL-CIO. “This is only halftime.”
It could, in fact, be the kickoff of similar drives in Indiana’s more heavily unionized neighbor states, such as Michigan and Ohio.
Fights over labor rights have polarized the statehouses in Wisconsin and Ohio, manufacturing-belt states where Republican governors have legislative majorities and a strong belief that the 2010 election cycle gave them a mandate to pursue a conservative, small-government agenda.
Indiana is the most conservative of Rust Belt states, and one where natives identify more strongly with those in Southern and Western states where right-to-work laws have been in place, in some cases, since the 1950s.
Daniels and other backers have said in televised ads that union limitations are key to attracting new business to the state – likely drawing investment away from Illinois and other union strongholds that border Indiana. Union leaders say the rules weaken unions’ bargaining power and will force down wages for workers.