Britton Loftin

March 31, 2011 | Uncategorized

Wisconsin Down, Indiana Follows Suit

Well, here we go again. Indiana’s union busting legislation has been debated and Dems have gone back home. Indiana is in the news this time for union busting. Too bad that Governor Mitch Daniels, though met with much opposition, is not getting the same press coverage as Wisconsin’s Governor Scott “Wack” Walker. Indiana Democrats ended their 4 week walkout over union rights and school vouchers on Monday. As in Wisconsin, Democrats who left the state to avoid a quorum were fined daily.

Indiana’s Democratic Lawmakers say they ended the walkout after Republicans agreed to make changes to the proposed legislation. Republicans said that though they made concessions, only minor changes were made. Last month Republicans withdrew a bill that would prohibit any requirement that employees in private sector workplaces pay union dues or fees. Another change can be seen in the limits placed on the number of students allowed in the school voucher program. Indiana’s Democratic legislators believe they were successful in softening the blow of the Republican agenda.

Indeed, the “Right-to-Work” bill which caused the Democrats to leave the state is off the table and headed to a study committee. There are 22 other bills, ranging from prohibiting private companies from taking over public schools to barring a future governor from signing an executive order to allow collective bargaining, that have not passed due to the walk out.

As Republicans take advantage of Tea Party hysteria, more and more attempts to move toward union busting are catching fire, and even in our nation’s capital. There is, however, one simple reason why Senator Jim Demint should halt his plan to introduce legislation to limit collective bargaining for Federal Government employees. Federal employees do not have collective bargaining rights. Demint’s preemptive strike would prevent TSA workers from being able to consider the benefits of unionizing.

Have the rich and corporate interests in America succeeded in creating a political environment where middle and lower income Americans looks out more for the interests of the top one and two percents of America than for themselves?

Corporations are making threats to the Governor of Illinois. Caterpillar, for example, has warned the Governor of Illinois that unless they shape up and become more like Wisconsin, the Caterpillar Corporation will leave. Such states can ill afford to lose jobs, but must do what it takes to protect their working citizens.

Governor Mitch Daniels said of the Indiana Republican agenda, “The only thing ‘radical’ about this session has been the decision by one caucus to walk off the job for five weeks,” Mr. Daniels said. “Now that it’s finally over, let’s make up the lost time.”