Indiana right-to-work bill on way to final vote
The Senate labor committee's Republican members voted 6-1 Monday morning to advance the bill to the full Senate.
The Senate labor committee's Republican members voted 6-1 Monday morning to advance the bill to the full Senate.
Indiana could become the 23rd right-to-work state as early as Wednesday depending on how soon Gov. Mitch Daniels decides to sign the labor bill.
On Wednesday, Republican lawmakers cleared the way for right-to-work legislation, which would make it a Class A misdemeanor to require somebody to become a union member or pay union dues as a condition of employment.
The state's Republican-controlled House of Representatives has cleared the way for Indiana to become the first right-to-work state in the traditionally union-heavy Rust Belt.
House Republicans levied more fines Tuesday against Democrats who are boycotting GOP-backed legislation that would bar labor unions from collecting mandatory fees from workers.
Indiana added 12,000 private-sector jobs in December, but the state’s unemployment rate held steady at 9 percent as a huge wave of Hoosiers entered the labor force.
Indiana House Democrats walked off the floor Monday after losing an effort to put a right-to-work measure aimed at unions before voters, possibly resuming an off-and-on boycott strategy aimed at derailing the measure for the second straight year.
Indiana House Democrats have returned to work at the statehouse after a boycott over divisive right-to-work legislation by moving to strike down the measure.
The Indiana House's Democratic leader said Friday his boycotting members are willing to return at "high noon" Monday to begin debating a contentious right-to-work bill, although the ongoing dispute over whether a statewide referendum on the issue is constitutional could prevent legislative action.
The Republican and Democratic leaders of the Indiana House had a tense 10-minute exchange on the House floor Friday morning over whether Democratic leaders will end their boycott over the right-to-work bill.
Indiana House Democrats got a boost Thursday when a judge temporarily blocked the collection of $1,000-a-day fines imposed on them for their legislative boycott over the contentious right-to-work bill, and their leader said they might return to the House chamber Friday to vote.
Indiana House Democrats kept up their legislative boycott over the right-to-work bill Thursday morning, a day after majority Republicans voted to start imposing $1,000-a-day fines.
Indiana House Democrats say they'll go to court to challenge the $1,000-a-day fines they face for their legislative boycott over the right-to-work bill.
Indiana House Republicans have approved $1,000-a-day fines against Democratic legislators who are boycotting over a right-to-work bill.
The vote comes out of a truce Republican House Speaker Brian Bosma and Democratic House Minority Leader Patrick Bauer negotiated to end Democratic boycotts.
House Democrats say they’ll continue stall tactics at the General Assembly unless they get a referendum to decide whether Indiana will become a right-to-work state.
Indiana's House of Representatives has scheduled its first vote on divisive right-to-work legislation that has prompted stall tactics by Democrats through the first week of the 2012 legislative session.
An Indiana House panel is expected to OK the legislation, which brought hundreds of union protesters to the Statehouse and sparked a three-day boycott by Democrats.
A panel of Indiana lawmakers voted along party lines to move divisive right-to-work legislation to the full House of Representatives. It could pass the House by the end of the week if Democrats continue to attend sessions.
A Republican-dominated Indiana Senate committee on Friday endorsed a labor bill that has prompted a two-day standstill in the Indiana House.