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Indiana Passes Anti-Union ‘Right to Work’ Bill

(Reuters) – The Indiana state Senate on Wednesday gave final approval to a new law allowing workers at unionized businesses to avoid paying union dues, the last major legislative hurdle to making Indiana the first “right-to-work” state in the nation’s manufacturing belt.

No state has approved a right-to-work law since Oklahoma a decade ago, and Indiana is being closely watched nationwide during a presidential election year. The Senate vote was 28 to 22.

Governor Mitch Daniels was expected to sign the bill Wednesday.

Sad day for organized labor.

Michigan House Passes Anti-Union Labor Bill

Lansing— A House committee on Tuesday passed a package of labor reform bills blasted by critics as anti-union measures.

The legislation would add county and municipal employees to the law that prohibits public school teachers from striking and set steep fines for public sector strikes and lockouts.

The bills also would make it easier for employers to get an injunction to stop picketing and require employers to get annual permission from employees to deduct union dues from their paychecks.

The package approved by the House Oversight, Reform and Ethics Committee, chaired by Rep. Tom McMillin, R-Rochester Hills, would have to be passed by the full House and Senate and be signed into law by Gov. Rick Snyder.

An overflow room equipped with a large TV screen was set up next to the hearing room in the House Office Building in Lansing to accommodate the large number of union members who attended today’s meeting.

“This is an unwarranted assault on working people,” said Jerry Skinner of Farmington Hills, a retired electrician and member of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 58, who attended the meeting. “They’re doing it in Indiana and they’re doing it here. We’ll be telling them what we think in November.”

The package is supported by Republicans and business owners who say reforms are necessary to limit the cost and disruption of strikes.

Snyder Rebuffs Right to Work Talk

Detroit— Gov. Rick Snyder on Friday jumped into the simmering debate over right-to-work legislation with some strong words.

“I don’t want to see a bill on my desk,” the governor told The Detroit News, when asked whether he’d sign a bill if one were passed by the state Legislature.

Right-to-work is one of the top issues the Legislature is expected to take up this year. Supporters view the legislation as a way to protect Michiganians against compulsory union membership; opponents view it as a way to depress Michigan’s wages.

“Right-to-work is not on my agenda,” Snyder told a business leaders forum earlier Friday. “We have far more important things. How about this road issue?”

Snyder has discouraged lawmakers from taking up the labor issue, saying it’s too divisive and will distract lawmakers from the task of creating jobs.

Right to Work Fight Coming to Michigan

Supporters and opponents of making Michigan a right-to-work state are closely watching Indiana’s lawmakers debate the issue and gearing up for a possible battle in Lansing this year.

The bill before the Republican-controlled Indiana General Assembly would make it illegal for labor contracts to require employees to pay union dues. The measure, backed by Gov. Mitch Daniels, has prompted mass protests by union workers and a walkout by Democratic lawmakers.

Proponents of right-to-work legislation say freeing industry from cumbersome labor rules and negotiations can help attract and keep employers. But with labor drawing its lifeblood from membership fees, union officials see right-to-work as a direct attack on organized labor.

No wide-ranging right-to-work bills have been introduced in Michigan yet, but there is a growing expectation that could change soon, despite the reluctance of Gov. Rick Snyder to address the issue.

Indiana Pushing Hard for ‘Right to Work’

INDIANAPOLIS — Nearly a year after legislatures in Wisconsin and several other Republican-dominated states curbed the power of public sector unions, lawmakers are now turning their sights toward private sector unions, setting up what is sure to be another political storm.

The thunderclouds are gathering first here in Indiana. The leaders of the Republican-controlled Legislature say that when the legislative session opens on Wednesday, their No. 1 priority will be to push through a business-friendly piece of legislation known as a right-to-work law.

If Indiana enacts such a law — and its sponsors say they have the votes — it will give new momentum to those who have previously pushed such legislation in Maine, Michigan, Missouri and other states. New Hampshire’s Republican-controlled Legislature was the last to pass a right-to-work bill in 2011, but it narrowly failed to muster the two-thirds majority needed to override a veto by the Democratic governor; an Indiana law would re-energize that effort.

Right-to-work is also a potent political symbol that carries serious financial consequences for unions. Corporations view such laws as an important sign that a state has policies friendly to business. Labor leaders say that allowing workers to opt out of paying any money to the union that represents them weakens unions’ finances, bargaining clout and political power.

John Sampson, president of the Northeast Indiana Regional Partnership, an economic development group, said companies were attracted to right-to-work states not because of lower wages but because the weakened role of unions means that companies get greater operating flexibility, which lowers their costs.

“Some people will say this is about bashing organized labor,” Mr. Sampson added. “From my point of view, there’s nothing better for labor than to create increased demand for jobs.”