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Indiana Senate Passes RTW Despite Broad Public Opposition
AFL-CIO Field Communications staffer Cathy Sherwin sends us this from the Indiana statehouse.
Despite overwhelming opposition throughout Indiana to the so-called right to work (RTW) bill, the state Senate yesterday passed its version of the bill by 28-22, while House Speaker Brian Bosma continued to use strong-arm tactics to force RTW down Hoosiers’ throats. The Senate chose to vote even as 10,000 Hoosier workers packed the statehouse—and even though working families have been holding town hall meetings, making thousands of phone calls and signing postcards.
Throughout the day, Democratic amendments to the House version of RTW (House Bill 1001) were rejected on party lines. Even the hugely popular amendment calling for a public referendum that would allow voters to decide on RTW went down to defeat. Then Bosma shut down the discussion on amendments, cutting off further debate. In protest, House Democrats left the chamber and went to caucus.
We’ll be back at the statehouse today. Our voices have ensured bipartisan opposition to “right to work” for less, despite GOP leadership leaning on Republican elected officials who are standing with us. And our voices are being heard by the Democratic legislators who brought up amendment after amendment to lessen the blow of a “right to work” bill—and, when the amendments were denied a hearing by partisan leaders, walked out to stand with us.
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35 Comments
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I’m a retired member of CWA in Virginia, a right-to-work state. I know that labor wants a person to be required by law to join a union and pay dues in order to work. I also understand that here in VA the non-member gets the same benefits that the dues paying member gets. This seems unfair, but what’s more unfair is requiring a person to join a union before he can work at all. In a free country a person is free to do as he pleases. Forced to join a union? Where’s the freedom and “right-to-work here? I’ve heard all the arguments for “right-to-work-for-less”. That’s BS!!! I’ll vote for freedom of conscience and choice any day in the USA!!! You labor socialists go do your own thing somewhere else.
It is called an “agency shop”. You aren’t forced to join a union anywhere but you are not allowed to freeload on the representation that is paid for by the members of the union. Taft-Hartley outlawed the union shop in all states.
Freedom to you is the freedom to freeload? Ignorance of the law is no excuse.
robo doesn’t believe in democracy, else he would have joined his union that a majority of his co-workers voted in; i’ve known a lot of robo clones over the years; if there is a decertification, many of them vote no; they’re not stupid, they know the value of the union; rather they’re cheap–they don’t want to pay for it.
Ive been a union steward, and I ever heard was people wining and crying about how much they have to pay in union dues. I bet the majority don’t even have a clue why unions were formed in the first place. EQUALITY, thats right, without unions, everyone would be working in unsafe working conditions, $2.00 hr jobs and forced to work 12 to 14 hours a day. Why do think OSHA was formed by union minded people, so they could make it home to there families without being killed, by some greedy company CEO, who has never or will ever get a sh—t about you or your family. Because they never meet you anyway. They don’t have too. Thats why they can layoff, outsource with a guilty conscience. Because they never built a relationship with you or your loved one. So thats a bried history lesson. Why don’t you get online or visit a library and look up the history of unions. Before you badmouth them. So some intelligence!
robocop..That may be the case but if there was no union you’s be getting a lot lower wage and very few benefits id any. Not onlt that but you’d pay for what few benefits you did get. You can call it bullshit all you want but I’ve witnessed this and know it happens Look ay wisconsin,.tennessee,and other states with Douche Bagger Communist damn governors and what they’ve done to teachers,firemen,local,and state employees.What you don’t seem to see is this,these bastards are putting the country in a plutonomy government. When it’s accomplished then set back and see how your children and grand children fair. They’ll be working for slave labor wages,mostly pat time employment with no benefits,never make enough to own a home or any of the comforts of life.Your analogy of RTW is blind sided at best.
robocop you are a fraud and a freeloader.
Nobody is forced to join a union right off the bat when they are employed. Usually there is a grace period for the company to see if the person will work out. When that grace period passes then that person is in the union and gets the benefits and workplace protection as everyone else there has.Everyone has a right to work where they want. Union shop or non-union shop. Now if someone decides to work at a union shop because the pay and benefits are better then they should pay dues.
Us labor socialists are protecting what we have as the 1% will come looking for that too.
Someday you will pull your head out of your ass and thank those who paid dues for your lifstyle right now. It must be nice to be able to retire.
Admit it robo, you’re cheap. Several others have called you out also. You took the raises, you took the benefits, you were a willing acceptor. Now, you want unions to be at the mercy of freeloaders who would get all the goodies without any payment whasoever. You know what happens then? The Unions run out of cash. They disband or are disceertified. The employees are now at the mercy of the stooges. We are back in 1900. NIce!
robocop is a “parasite”. This is the type of hypocrite that is spawned by “right to work” legislation.
RWR, you are STUPID, nobody is telling you anything!!work where you want and make crap for pay!! We’re trying to help you get fair wages and benefits!!but apparantly , you don’t want that, so shut the hell up and be a slave , don’t try to hep yourself or your family, no gutts at all!!! I’m sure your employer will take you under their wings and protect you!!Stupid ass!!!
and to robocop. maybe your problem is you are a ROBOT!!! no brain except for what someone types into your program!!! dumb ass!!!I’m from Va., and in was in the CWA!! I’m proud that I was and very grateful for all that they did for me!! read sdbdruns reply(agency shop)!!! so you believe in freedom of consciense and choice!!! BS, what about the right of a woman to have an abortion if that’s what she wants to do!!! I just bet you’re against that, you damn hypocrite!!I’m ashamed that you’re from MY state and even have the nerve to say you are a member of MY union!!! I bet you like medicare, socil security,40 hr work week, time and a half after 40 hrs, double time after 49 hours, weeks of vacation, union representation( if you’re worth it, which I doubt), all the saftey programs that wouldn’t be there without a union!!!
this isn’t about YOUR rights!!!it’s about UNION BUSTING in AMERICA!!! you can be a union member or not, whatever suits!! but if they bust our unions , you won’t have anything I mentioned above!! Don’t call me a socialist you damn idiot!!! At least I give a D—- about you and all the others in this country that get paid crap for their hard work!!! apparently YOU DON’T!! IDIOT!!!
Like that union pension check every month, Robo? Like that Social Security and Medicare? Other folks would like to have that, too. Would you rather they didn’t have the same protections and benefits that you enjoy as a union member? What about your kids and grandkids? The hell with them all, you say? It must be sad to have a greedy little worm for a grandpa.
NOW! Thus Begins the Fight For Elections in Indiana! RTW certainly
does NOT give Workers the Right To Work unless they are “Offered”
a cheap Pay Rate lower than any Union or Prevailing Rate!
RTW is only a Union “Busting” and Employee “Starving” piece of
filth, completing UnAmerican!
The Day MUST come where RTW MUST be Outlawed by LAW!
mortal angels…I agree with you 100%. Sadly our kids and grand kids will work for wages so low they won’t be able to feed their families. No need for them to try and get food stamps or commodities,the RepigliKKKon and Douche Baggers will and are trying their best to kill the programs.Yep these people that back RTW bullshit have just cut the throats of their children and grand children. These ignorant asses people must be listening to Faux Nazi Propoganda media.
Who has the right to tell a man he can’t sell his labor for any amount he chooses?
And thus begins the race to the bottom of the wage scale. You are an idiot and deserve to be paid the penny you are worth.
So the Silver Fox has a right to tell me what I can work for or if I can get a job at all? Under who’s authority do you have the right to rule my life? You are the despot of mankind? I don’t think it’s I who am the idiot…..
If I was a boss in a non-union establishment (heaven forbid I should sink so low) I would rule your life if you worked for me. You’d do what I wanted, when I wanted and if not , See Ya. On the other hand, as a union member I could protest such actions and probably be victorious. You’re still worth only a penny.
So I would be your slave? I believe that was remedied back in 1863. Frankly, I’m happy to rely on my individual talents and work ethic rather than having to accept the same as others with different abilities. Of course, it I had a poor work ethic and wasn’t highly skilled in my trade I’d want to ride on the coat tails of the hardest working and most productive. So, I guess I understand why you feel the way you do.
You wonder how those people that hate unions who work for union companies would like it if given the choice to not join, but take a lower non union rate and less benefits. I can tell you there would be no takers. they are just like the Tea Party members. Hypocrites, who have their hand out taking every benefit they can get their hands on. Check out Stephen Fincher, a Tea Party congressman from Tenn. He was voted most corrupt…His family has been taking farm subsidies and he has had his hand in the till……Boggles my mind.
I urge everyone to study why unions are formed! Heres a thought, why are they so intent on getting rid of unions? Geez, They are a threat to the greedy power hungery Company CEO’s. Thats why Republicans love CEO’S like that because they contribute to their campaigns to oppress the average working guy. Just trying to provide a place to live and put food on the table for his family. Isn’t that what everyone wants? The problem is they want your share, my share and everyone else share. I hope they meet their maker one day and rot in hell for their greedy way.
You RATS go work for peanuts. I’ll be UNION and make a livable wage. We set the prevailing wage so you LEECHES can experience what it is like to make what we make everyday. Without us UNION members, you teabaggers wouldn’t have a pot to piss in. I’ve seen you LAZY, WORMS join my UNION. You’re always the first to get laid off. You endanger all my UNION brother and sisters with your lack of knowledge. You make us look bad with your crappy work. Basically, I wouldn’t piss on you if you were on fire!
I realized the Union busting isn’t really about wages at all. It is about dismantling the largest money that is basically the ONLY counter money in elections to the Right Wing money that floods in. The Union is the only power left that has any muscle against the Right Wing Machine. And this is a way they are ripping the money away, state, by state. So this is all a charade… “Union Workers are taking ‘your’ tax money” “I shouldn’t be ‘forced’ to join a Union, I should be ‘free’ to work”… IT is all electoral politics.
More proof (as if we need any) that these legislators are working for the moneyed interests rather than the people.
Hey robo, I don’t live in a right to work state and no one is forced to join a union here.But every one wants to.
Godgirl, yes it about olitifal power and ow do you get such power? You do it by controlling the bread of the peope. Remember Rome.
When wages get so low that you can not pay the rent or feed your family, then Unions will become the building blocks to recovery of the middle class. Blood in the streets was how the people organized in the beginning and will do so again. Right now, if legislation is pur in place that pits Unions against Government rather than Corporations and businesses, then only a full “Revolution” or “Civil War” will turn us around. We are begining to look more like NAZI Germany all the time. Next the Govenors will be rounding up “Union Members”, giving them 5 year prison sentences and forcing them to do hard labor instead of paying them to re-build our infrastructure. Some states alredy can force inmates to work on prision construction and roads. When they need more of a certain trade, they can go to the Union Membership roles of a particular trade and arrest those members forcing them to work. A vote for the GOP is a vote for enslavement of the working class.
You got that right Edward F. Dijeau. ‘They’ want slaves. ‘They’ are dividing this country to become the very poor and the very rich. This is about world power. I saw it in Panama. That ‘s when I knew what ‘they’ wanted our country to be like that country.
I know some believe the only way to change is through democracy, but ‘they’ are scoffing at democracy.
But it will take a third generation for them to realize this.
I am a retired union person and the thing that makes my blood boil is the fact that we fought for good pay and benefits and those RTW people that were not in a union within the same company, got the same benefits we did. That always angered me.
In the company I worked for they rode a co-worker unmercifully. She was very intelligent to a point that management asked her for answers, but they rode her and if it wasn’t for the union, she would have been unexcusibly fired.
And you too, mcbend, is correct.
This was written in my paper on Sept 11, 2010 by Kevin Hassett, director of economic-policy studies at American Enterprise Institute.
1. Minimum wage should be scaled back to $5.85–I ask can you live on that today?
2. Government policies should induce workers to take the plunge and accept “lower” wages.
3. Unions should be willing to reopen collective bargaining agreements and accept lower wages. (I say it should start at the top and not give CEOs millions of dollars as pay).
Then he said this: while painful and perilous for a politician even to discuss, these measures would do a lot to move the economy back toward full employment.
If anyone believes in this then you must be from another planet.
All I can say is if it hadn’t been for my union I probably would be dead today. I wouldn’t have enough money for food and sure as heck wouldn’t have any money to pay my hospital bill. I was fortunate enough to be working for a company that provided health insurance, but they didn’t pay all of it, but that too they want to take away.
And to MortalAngels—-AMEN. Right on brother!!!!
RWR–I have a few choice words for you but am too much of a lady to say them.
Miss Diane, just what gives you the right to tell me who I can work for or what I charge? Who gives you the right to tell me I can’t take a job to feed my children? Who anointed you ruler of my life? I’ll wait patiently for you to give me a reason you can rule over me.
Just another GOP Governor being a puppet to the 1% and not caring about the majority. Remind everone next election !
Vote them out for the RTW will decimate your wages and provide very little to you but a lot to the employer. The worker has no voice at all or rights. Im in a RTW state and it is the poorest in the sw.
RTW gives you one right – the right to “SHUT UP”
you might of well change the name of Indiana to Danielsville.RTW will kill the middle class, send indiana’s economy into a tale spin. i also feel that the super bowl should be boycotted&picket lines,put pressure on the players union.
Robo , you are a retired member of the CWA who is taking the retirement benefits that were fought for on yours and every members behalf???? (Pension, Healthcare) Then you write a post like that?To me you are nothing more than a ignorant hypocrite and a freeloader. RTW laws do nothing more than depress wages and provide little or no benefits for the working person in that state. With the cost of fuel, groceries, heating oil going up,RTW creates a wider gap in income between working class and the wealthy pushing more people into foreclosure and welfare!Thats just Great Huh ?
Mitch Daniels is obviously in the pocket of the Koch-suckers, David and Charles and a lackey for the 1 %!
These treasonous b@stards are out to destroy democracy in the US and usher in a corporate/fascist form of governance much like Mussolini’s Italy in the thirties and forties!
These arrogant billionaires must be stopped!
NOW!
The Koch Brothers paid to have this bill passed and he is getting his way. It is funny that big business does not want unions but business has the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the National Association of Manufacturers, The National Association of Independent Businessmen and a thousand other organizations they they pay to belong to to represent THEIR interests. If you don’t know that the unions are the ONLY national entity that is representing interests of workers you need to have your butt kicked. Business are trying to get rid of ANY opposition to their getting their way and eliminating unions is always the beginning. ONce the unions are gone you return to even lower wages, no benefits, Child labor laws, no unemployment, no social security, no public schools, no medicare, no medicaid or any of the other benefits that unions have brought to ALL workers.
Anyone who opposes unions should refuse all benefits they have brought to workers including paid holidays and vacation and sick pay.
I was a union member for 27 yrs. During that time the Unions have defended me , negotiated in good faith for me, and in general kept me employed. Without the Union the company I worked for would have contracted all work out and would not have had a single real employee on the books.
The Right wants Unions destroyed because in general the Unions contribute to Liberal Ideals. Without Unions the Right would have even more of an advantage than they have now!