Things are certainly heating up in the battle to make Indiana the 23rd Right to Work state. Indiana Democrats are once again AWOL from the state house in their last ditch effort to stave off passage of RtW legislation. Passage is inevitable, given GOP majorities in both the Indiana house and senate, but not until seven house Democrats show up to fulfill the 67 member quorum requirement. (Democrats blocked the legislation’s passage with a similar walkout last summer.) The Republican Speaker of the House is now imposing $1000/day fines on missing lawmakers who are taking that issue to court to block the fines from being deducted from their paychecks. Union-beholden Democrats have also taken a new rhetorical tack, a Hail Mary pass that calls for an unprecedented statewide referendum vote on the measure, a demand that is largely considered unconstitutional. Both sides claim to have majority public support although the only independent poll taken in recent weeks shows the majority of Hoosiers are still utterly confused by the measure and thus have no opinion on it. Meanwhile, the union goon squad leaders are making their own demands – drop the legislation or else the Superbowl gets it. Wednesday, labor union protesters, in a stroke of original thought, filled the Statehouse with chants of ”Occupy the Super Bowl.” Jeff Combs, director of Teamsters Local 135 in Indianapolis said it is no idle threat. ”We are seriously considering if we can’t get the respect that we deserve down at the Statehouse then, yeah, there’s a very good possibility” the protests will spread to the Super Bowl, he said. Because, if history teaches us anything, it teaches us that the surest road to respect is dressing up in a rat suit and chanting meaningless slogans at people trying to enjoy a football game. Jeff Harris, spokesman for the Indiana AFL-CIO, said the union organization’s ”focus is on defeating ’right to work’ on the (House) floor. However, we do know the national spotlight will be turning to Indianapolis. It’s an opportunity to highlight how inhospitable Indiana is becoming for working men and women,” he said. The passage of Right to Work in Indiana would no doubt set off a cascade of like attempts in surrounding states, with efforts gaining traction in neighboring Kentucky and Michigan.
