Union members fight Indiana right-to-work proposal

Union members packed an Indiana Statehouse hearing Thursday in their uphill fight against "right-to-work" legislation that sparked a five-week walkout by House Democrats earlier this year.

Members of the General Assembly's Interim Study Committee on Employment spent most of the day listening to supporters and opponents of the measure, which would prohibit workers from being required to pay union representation fees.

"Please take the time to listen to the voters, not necessarily a handful of businesses," said James Palmore, an apprenticeship coordinator with the International Union of Painters and Allied Trades. Palmore told the panel that he was able to take a vacation day to lobby lawmakers but many union members had to sacrifice wages to show up at the statehouse.

Roughly 200 union members filled the state Senate chamber and the hallways outside during the hearing, occasionally laughing and cheering during some of the testimony. That sparked threats from the panel's chairman, Sen. Phil Boots, that they would be removed from the hearing if they continued.

Boots, R-Crawfordsville, said he expects to convene one more meeting of the panel this month before forwarding its recommendations to lawmakers.

While passage of the measure is not guaranteed next year, the numbers in Indiana's General Assembly make it seem likely. Republicans outnumber Democrats in the House 60-40, and Republicans hold more than three quarters of the Senate.

Those odds spurred Democrats to stall business earlier this year by leaving Indiana and denying Republicans the quorum, or number of lawmakers, needed to conduct business. Republicans responded at the end of the session by approving new penalties for lawmakers who walk out.

During the hearing Thursday, supporters of the measure scrapped with the panel's Democrats throughout the morning.

"We don't think you should be forced to join a union as a condition of employment and we don't think you should be forced to pay dues and fees as a condition of employment," Stan Greer, senior research associate for National Institute for Labor Relations Research, a sister organization of the National Right to Work Committee.

Greer argued that Indiana's dire unemployment rate has been exacerbated by not passing "right to work" legislation.

Rep. Kreg Battles, D-Vincennes, questioned whether Greer's research should be considered given his political leanings, although he stopped short of other Democrats on the panel who sparred extensively with Greer. Battles said he believed Greer brings a bias, but "that doesn't make you bad, that doesn't make you evil."

Dan Nicholson, a meat-cutter for Kroger's and member of UFCW Local 700, said he was surprised when he visited another Kroger meat-cutter in Texas three weeks ago and found out he made $1.70 an hour less than he did and had worse benefits. Nicholson attributed it to Texas' status as a right to work state.

Nicholson said he took a personal day off from work to lobby lawmakers. Other union members at the statehouse said they took vacation days because they were worried they may lose benefits and wages if the legislation is approved next year.