Indiana Doesn't Need Right-to-Work Legislation

By Rich James

Last Modified: Nov 25, 2011 10:00AM

When the General Assembly convenes on Jan. 4, the eyes of the nation may well be on Indiana.

Not because the state remains the best in the nation when it comes to high school basketball, but because there will be an unwarrated attack upon organized labor.

The Republicans, who do the bidding of corporations and other businesses, will seek the passage of a right-to-work bill.

The bill would force organized labor to represent workers who refuse to pay union dues.

The bill also would be a significant step by Republicans to destroy the unions that built America.

The Republicans say right-to-work will clear the way for additional businesses to relocate to Indiana.

Those are the very same businesses that have no desire to deal with unions. They want to drive down workers’ wages and increase corporate profits and power.

Statistics show the average worker in a right-to-work state makes about $5,333 a year less than workers in other states.

Twenty-one percent more people in right-to-work states don’t have health insurance.

And the list goes on.

Do Republicans care? Of course not, although they will try to tell you otherwise. And they wonder why they can’t get the union vote.

Republicans contend corporations have shipped jobs overseas because of the cost of dealing with unions. Don’t buy it. It’s about greed.

Republicans also will tell you that Democrats oppose right to work because of the money that unions contribute to their party.

While there is truth to that, there is a bigger issue involved here.

It is about quality of life for the middle class — a group that has been declining in numbers because of attacks like the one planned by Republican legislators.

The CEO of a company may take up residence on the top floor, but it’s the union folks who laid the bricks, hammered the nails and ran the electricity and plumbing that made it all possible.

Unions aren’t perfect, but they provide quality craftsmanship and are an integral part of a community.

Gov. Mitch Daniels keeps boasting that Indiana is one of the most attractive states in the country for new business.

If that in fact is the case, and I have no reason to doubt it, why the push for right-to-work?

I guess the easy answer is that they can. Republicans control the House and Senate and the governor’s office.

Some say the Republicans want to eliminate the voice of the working man from the political process. Hard to argue against that.

When Republicans introduced legislation to do the same thing early this year, some Democrats walked out for five weeks, preventing a quorum. The bill died.

Might the Democrats skip out again? It’s possible, but I don’t think so. Walking out again might well work against the Democrats.

Staying in the Statehouse while Hoosiers from across Indiana rally in Indianapolis for several weeks could be a political plus for Democrats come November 2012.

And you can bet the vast majority of Hoosier teachers, who saw Republicans take away the majority of their bargaining rights earlier this year, will be at the fore when the unions take to the streets.

Might right to work lure a few more businesses to Indiana? Probably. Might they be worth it? Probably not.

So, why are Republicans going out of their way to rip the state apart when they don’t have to?

Money. Greed. And most of all — arrogance.

Rich James’ column appears on Fridays in the Post-Tribune, A Chicago Sun-Times Publication

Indiana Workers Protest Republicans "Right to Work" for Less

Indiana Workers Will Not Back Down

A Stronger Voice

Teachers Need Our Help

Unions United for a

Better and Fairer Tomorrow

First they destroyed our jobs in manufacturing and the mills. Then the big LaSalle St. banks and the rich financial operators ran our economy in the ditch. Now they want to blame the crisis on teachers and other public workers. Hard working teachers and their unions are not to blame for the ills of education.

Join Us!  

We need to rally our unions and our community to fight for education and a better future for our children. This is not a deficit crisis; it’s a jobs crisis. We need the rich and the corporations to pay their fair share so we can invest in our schools and neighborhoods for a better tomorrow. We need to rally around the Chicago Teachers Union and allied unions in education.

Speakers: Karen Lewis, President CTU, Ed Sadlowski, AFSCME Council 40, Jeff Zupan, IBEW,  WTDY MADISON WISC, SLY IN THE MORNING

For more information or questions:

Susan & Raul Garza – 773-322-2679 or 773-415-4315

10654 ave G Chicago Il 60617

3:30 AUGUST 31^st 2011

How the World Really Turns

Proponents of taking bargaining rights away from Hoosier teachers for everything except wages and wage related benefits site some of the most idiotic reasons. They complain that contracts in some schools down in Crawford County and East Chicago require a certain temperature for classrooms. Well, duh.....at some point in those schools history, some lame brained administrator thought he's save energy by keep the thermostats set at 50 degrees. Either that, or because of his cold heart, he insisted the temperatures be set at 90 degrees.

Another contract requires that the teachers' lounge be attractive, comfortable and spacious. Why? Because years ago some wild eyed, hippie principal on LSD insisted the lounge walls be painted black. Either that, or he wouldn't allow the stinking walls to be painted even though the plaster was falling off the ceiling.

Other contracts say that if teachers will be layed off, teachers with equal seniority break the tie by using their birth dates in Indianapolis, a blind draw in Munster and a roll of a die in East Allen County. Well, big whoop, that's exactly how it's done in many industries, including the Northern Indiana Public Service Company.

Another contract requires that a classroom carpet be cleaned efficiently. This was insisted on by the teachers because their principal was a pig. Either that, or he was too cheap to purchase a working vacuum cleaner.

Another thing Daniels and his cohorts are trying to do is take away a teachers experience when evaluating them. Well, I'll tell you how teachers in Indiana will be evaluated if all of this anti-worker legislation is passed. The teacher that plays bridge with the principles wife, or goes to church with the superintendant, or talks bad about another teacher, or is good at acting to be a good teacher is the teacher that will get a good evaluation. Simple as that. That's human nature and that's the way the world turns. It's a crock I tell you, a crock. And Daniels and the Republicans know it.

Democrats in the Indiana House are true heroes in doing everything they can to prevent these terrible pieces of legislation from being passed. And the Republicans that authored the bills in question, well, I just can't say here about what I think of them.

Attack On Unions is an Attack on the Middle Class

The recent attack on unions in Wisconsin, Indiana, Ohio and other states is a continuing attack waged against the working class, which has now become obvious to all.

We have observed the systematic dismantling of the middle class over the last 30 years and now it has reached transparency in a war waged against unions. The conservative Republicans, sponsored by big money interests, know that in order to gain complete control of our economic system and the transfer of wealth (that has been going on for some time), unions are the only institutions and firewall protecting workers and the middle-class.

If unions are destroyed or made ineffective, there is no other institution or organization that can help to protect all workers. And make no mistake about it, this is true whether one is in a union or not.

The facts are clear. As union membership has declined, the status of all workers-union and non-union has declined. Union workers make more money, have better benefits and most importantly provide workers with democracy on the job and due process that otherwise would not exist.

The attack on public workers is just an extension of the attack on private sector workers and their unions that has been going for years. And, if these attacks are successful, the result will affect all workers.

We should all be outraged by what is happening. Think about it. Wall Street and the banking industry and money brokers created the recession, loss of jobs and the resulting financial problems for the government on a Federal, State and Local level. 401(k) plans and pension plans are also adversely affected by these misdeeds. And, tax breaks given to the same people and those who have outsourced our jobs are making matters worse and being used as an excuse to attack workers.

Bill Gibbons, SOAR PACE Board Member

Indiana Senator Ed Charbonneau is Bad for Indiana

Whether to allow teachers in Indiana to continue to be able to bargain for working conditions seems to me to be a no brainer. Indiana Republicans seem to have a very poor understanding of what a union even is.

Items that appear in local union contracts which on the surface might seem strange or unusual to most people, have no doubt been placed there for a very good reason at some time in the history of that community of workers.

Anyone who has ever done any work for any entity knows full well that in every group of management there usually can be found at least one wild eyed, crazy acting, member that has no regard for the safety or an understanding of the human behavior of workers causing workers to be harassed, threatened or miserable. School administrators are no different. Some of them are really good and some are simple minded, hard headed egotistical nincompoops.

I can imagine some crazed administrator insisting that the temperature in classrooms be set higher or lower than that which is most conducive to learning. I can imagine how disruptive and miserable a work day could be for a teacher if an administer had a Captain Queeg complex.

Without agreed upon rules between teachers and administration officials, only bad things can be the result and the children who are trying to learn would be the most affected.

Why Republicans in Indiana are so afraid of allowing teachers this basic right to negotiate working conditions cannot be understood by me.

My own Indiana State Senator, Ed Charbonneau, in Indiana’s District 5, not only voted for this lousy assault on teachers but has the distinction of being one that authored or sponsored the darned thing.

Mr. Charbonneau knows better. He knows what a union is.

Governor Daniels and Indiana Senator Ed Charbonneau Anti-Union

No Rest for Walker

USW Slams Walker's Assault on Democracy

(Pittsburgh) – This statement was released this morning by the United Steelworkers (USW) on actions taken last evening by Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker and Republican Senators.

In a clear violation of Wisconsin’s open meeting law, Wisconsin conservative senators yesterday voted without a quorum to strip the state’s public sector workers – teachers, nurses, and librarians – of collective bargaining rights that the people of Wisconsin granted them a half century ago.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE                                                                          
March 10, 2011                                                                                                                           
CONTACT:   Wayne Ranick (412) 562-2444

United Steelworkers International President Leo W. Gerard said this attack on the rights of Wisconsin’s public sector workers is an attack on all working people. “Although Wisconsin law requires a quorum when Senators vote to spend the people’s money, these conservatives exploited a loophole to vote without a quorum on legislation to steal workers’ rights. This is not democracy,” Gerard said.

“As illustrated by the surging crowd of protesters who filled the capitol building in Wisconsin after the undemocratic sneak-vote Wednesday, workers everywhere, whether public sector or private sector, union or unrepresented, will unite to win back their rights with their feet at protests and their votes at ballot boxes,” said Gerard, who leads North America’s largest industrial union, with 850,000 members, including steelworkers, paper workers, oil workers, rubber workers and public sector workers in the U.S. and Canada.

The conservative attack on workers in Wisconsin is far from isolated, Gerard said: “This is a nation-wide campaign by billionaires and country-club conservatives, to terminate workers’ rights, giving unfettered power to corporations.” So far in Wisconsin, conservatives have granted only government workers the right to freeload – the ability to benefit from collective bargaining without paying union dues. In nine other states, from Maine to Missouri, conservatives are pushing right to freeload legislation to cripple all unions.

“All this legislation is an attack on the middle class, which blossomed in this country as a result of collective bargaining victories during the middle of the last century. Middle-class workers, whether Republican or Democrat, know they must repel this assault on their right to collectively bargain or be reduced to insecurity and poverty,” Gerard said.

Anti Worker Indiana Legislators

If people in Wisconsin think that the Republicans in their state legislature are acting improperly and against the best interests of the people who work for a living in Wisconsin, they shouldn't feel pregnant because we have Republicans in the Indiana General Assembly that are just as bad.

My own State Senator, Ed Charbonneau would fit in just fine up in Wisconsin. His willingness to take away bargaining rights from Indiana's teachers has given him that distinction.

An Open Letter to our Friends, Neighbors and State Politicians

Today, we are writing this open letter to our friends, neighbors, and state politicians. Over the past couple of weeks, democratic representatives have walked out of the State House and are taking a stand against legislation that will have long-term ramifications on Hoosier families. We applaud them for there tenacity and courage. The working families in Indiana will never forget their decision.

The common threads on the bills before them are singular – they enhance the powerful and erode the rights and privileges of working families and their children. So-called right-to-work legislation is a thinly veiled attempt to silence the voices of Indiana working people. The legislation at creating more charter schools and diverting already scarce funds out of the public school system and into pseudo-regulated private enterprise can only damage the future of education in Indiana. These things cannot be taken lightly.

We are in a unique position in time. Men and women that will probably not be here to see the results of their decision-making are determining what the future holds for our children and future generations. That is unfortunate and the stakes are high. These decisions will affect the social, economic and life building abilities of our children and grandchildren. There can be no future without access to a decent and affordable education. There can be no viable future for families without the ability to make a living wage. There can be no future for a house built on sand.

The state of working families is in the hands of the Indiana legislature. Think hard before you cast that vote against us. Deliberate long and realize that after your last election is over, Hoosiers across the state will live by these acts for better or for worse. Lastly, choose wisely the legacy you leave our children.

USW Local Union 809 President, Jeff Hooker
USW Local Union 5840  President, Russ Oberg 
USW Local Union 9550 President, Chuck Owens
USW Local Union 6805 President, Rick Richardson
USW Local Union 905 President, Tina Smythe
USW Local Union 12273  President, Frank Troyer
USW Local Union 1052 President, Nena Defeberche

The War on the Workers

Attack on the Public Sector

From The Director’s Desk

All across the country governors and state legislators, as well as local elected officials, are trying to balance their budgets on the back of hard working public employees. All the states and most local municipalities are running huge deficits because they receive less money from the federal government than in the past; not because of the salaries paid to people, who teach our children, plow our snow and maintain our infrastructure. The simple fact of the manner is; our states and local governments are expected to provide more services with less support from our federal government.

The federal and state governments are providing considerably less financial assistance to our local municipalities than they did 30 years ago. The need for the services didn’t go away. The burden of financing these services was forced onto the municipalities and dramatically shifted the costs onto us via local taxes such as property, school and local sales tax.

I read in a recent article in USA Today by Dennis Cauchon, that our taxes are actually lower today than they were in 1950’s. We have a much larger infrastructure to maintain and a larger population to service than 60 years ago. The loop holes in our tax system, that allows the rich to escape their responsibilities and corporations to get away with paying as little taxes as possible have finally come home to roost. This has placed an unfair burden on the middle class and working poor and has jeopardized the financial well being of our towns and states.

In this rush to slash public sector pay and benefits, we have been hearing 3 popular myths that the right wing conservatives love to promote:

• Government employees are overpaid compared to the private sector.
• Taxes are out of control.
• The debt is out of control.

The pay issue - A recent study published by the University of Wisconsin revealed that “employees of state and local government earn an average of 11% and 12% less respectively than comparable private sector employees.” The study went on to say it is true that “benefits make up a slightly larger share of compensation for state and local sector, but, even after accounting for the value of retirement, healthcare and other benefits, state and local employees earn less than private sector counterparts. On average, total compensation is 6.8% lower for states employees and 7.4% for local employees than for comparable private sector workers.”

Taxes - The USA Today article, referenced earlier proclaimed our taxes are exceptionally low; regardless of the claims of the extreme right who have criticized that federal spending is out of control. The article states: “federal, stateand local taxes – including income, property, sales and other taxes consumed 9.2% of all personal income in 2009, the lowest rate since 1950. That rate is far below the historic average of 12% for the last 50 years.”

Debt – The fact is, the U.S. debt is not out of control. Compared to the rest of the world, the U.S. debt presented as percent of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) is ranked 36 well behind nations such as Japan, United Kingdom and Germany. Our debt is manageable and not out of line in our global economy.

The bottom line here is federal, state and local government employees are not overpaid. By all measures they make less than their private sector counter parts. So what is the real agenda here? Could it be union busting? Is it just another attack on the middleclass?

We are not going to solve are nation’s problems by cutting the salaries of our public servants. We will simply put them in the same mess as the private sector with declining wages and home foreclosures. Our nation needs to develop a plan to put Americans to work! We should not be attacking the few middle class wage earners that still have jobs.

We are rapidly moving towards becoming a country of the have and the have nots. The time has come. We need to stand up against the rich and corporate elite and demand an industrial policy that will again make this country strong and put America back to work!

Jim Centner, SOAR Director

Indiana Senator Mike Delph's Bigotry

Indiana Senator Mike Delph, a Republican from the Carmel area has proposed that Indiana become like Arizona in dealing with "illegal immigration".

In an interview not long ago he said that he's "concerned about the exploitation of cheap labor for profit and the exploitation of human beings that's going on today in the state of Indiana."

I think if Senator Delph was truly concerned about the exploitation of human beings that's going on in the state of Indiana, he would be introducing legislation that would make it illegal for companies to permanently replace workers if they are locked out or find it necessary to strike a company.

To me, Senator Delph's proposed legislation is nothing more than his way of expressing his bigotry.

There is Power in Unity

There's nothing more satisfying than to be able to help workers against an employer that has no regard for those who have made the company profit. This company in Elkhart, Indiana by the name of American Electronics Components has been in negotiations with USW Local 1056 for two or three months. The local union consists of nine ladies.

This company refuses to bargain after offering their workers a raise of only 18 cents over three years. Oh, they also offered to increase their workers medical insurance premiums 40% for an employee and an increase in premium of 60% for a family member. Some workers pay more than $200 a week for their health care.

This company should be ashamed to have the name "American" in its name.

Power to the workers, and shame on this company and its management.

Employee Rights

Employee Rights

The National Labor Relations Act extends rights to many private-sector employees including the right to organize and bargain with their employer collectively. Employees covered by the Act are protected from certain types of employer and union misconduct and have the right to attempt to form a union where none currently exists.

Examples of Your Rights As An Employee Under the NLRA Are:

• Forming, or attempting to form, a union among the employees of your employer.
• Joining a union whether the union is recognized by your employer or not.
• Assisting a union in organizing your fellow employees.
• Engaging in protected concerted activities. Generally, "protected concerted activity" is group activity which seeks to modify wages or working conditions.
• Refusing to do any or all of these things. However, the union and employer, in a State where such agreements are permitted, may enter into a lawful union-security clause requiring employees to pay union dues and fees.

The NLRA forbids employers from interfering with, restraining, or coercing employees in the exercise of rights relating to organizing, forming, joining or assisting a labor organization for collective bargaining purposes, or engaging in protected concerted activities, or refraining from any such activity. Similarly, labor organizations may not restrain or coerce employees in the exercise of these rights.

Click on National Labor Relations Act to access the full text of the law.