Right-to-Work Law Signed in Indiana

First appeared San Francisco Chronicle

Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels, who had once said that he did not wish to add a right-to-work provision to the state's labor laws, signed a bill Wednesday doing just that.

The legislation, which bars union contracts from requiring nonunion workers to pay fees for representation, makes Indiana the first state in more than a decade to enact right-to-work legislation and the only one in the Midwestern manufacturing belt to have such a law. An Orlando Labor and Employment Lawyer has been watching the legislation.

Daniels signed the measure only hours after it cleared the Republican-held Senate - an unusually speedy journey through the Statehouse designed, many said, to end what had become a rancorous, partisan fight before the national spotlight of the Super Bowl arrives in Indianapolis on Sunday, only blocks away.

For a month, the issue had loomed over Indianapolis, and hundreds of union members crowded, day after day, into the echoing Statehouse halls. Democrats, who hold minorities in both legislative chambers, tried to block a vote on the matter, which they argued would weaken unions and lower pay for workers at private-sector companies. Republicans contended that passage would help lure new companies and new jobs while allowing employees a chance to decide for themselves whether to support unions. A Minneapolis Labor and Employment Lawyer watches closely.

Even on Wednesday, when it was clear that the measure was certain to pass in the Senate, tensions were high. As senators spoke on both sides, protesters in the halls chanted loudly, and a few people inside the chamber called out objections. Thousands of union members and supporters marched from the Statehouse to Lucas Oil Stadium, the site of the Super Bowl.

In the end, senators voted 28-22 in favor of the measure, which was approved last week by the House. The bill makes Indiana the 23rd right-to-work state.

Republican leaders defended the measure's unusually swift passage, noting what they described as "overt threats" by union members and others about intentions to raise the right-to-work issue during the Super Bowl. A Charleston Labor and Employment Lawyer wonders about the timing.

Union leaders said the Republicans had overblown the union's intentions when it came to the football game.

"They're trying to make working men and women look like thugs, like we're going to ruin an event," said Jeff Harris, a spokesman for the Indiana AFL-CIO.

The real concern, Harris said, should be for what will come next for ordinary workers in the state.

"Hoosiers don't understand what right-to-work is, but now they're going to learn the hard way and see wages decline and workplace safety erode," he said.