Indiana Senate Sends Right-to-Work Bill for Daniels’s Signature
February 08, 2012, 11:09 AM ESTBy Tim Jones and Samm Quinn
Feb. 1 (Bloomberg) -- Indiana will become the nation’s 23rd right-to-work state after its Senate exempted nonunion employees from paying dues when working alongside their unionized colleagues.
The vote was 28-22, sending the measure to Republican Governor Mitch Daniels for his promised signature. The Republican-controlled House of Representatives passed the bill Jan. 26, ending three weeks of Democratic boycotts that prevented the chamber from conducting work.
Republican lawmakers say the measure is a cost-cutting, job-creating tool, while Democrats call it union-busting that will lower wages.
“There is no empirical evidence, if you take the time to read the studies, that right to work creates one job,” said Democratic Senator Vi Simpson said in debate before the vote. “We can expect lower wages for our people.”
Twenty-two states, mostly in the Deep South and the Rocky Mountain West, have enacted right-to-work laws. Republican statehouse gains in the 2010 elections prompted legislation in states including Wisconsin and Ohio that was aimed at restricting bargaining rights for government workers’ unions.
Indiana’s bill targets labor contracts with businesses. Union members composed 10.9 percent of the state’s workforce in 2010, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. That’s down from 15.4 percent in 2000.
Outside the statehouse today, workers chanted “Kill the bill” and “United we stand, divided we fall,” carrying signs that read, “Stop the war on workers” and “Hands off my union.”
--Editors: Stephen Merelman, Stacie Servetah
To contact the reporter on this story: Timothy Jones in Chicago at tjones58@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Mark Tannenbaum at mtannen@bloomberg.net
