TERRE HAUTE —
The flames of the right-to-work debate were gone, but the coals still seemed to smolder.
About 40 participants made an audience for the legislative crackerbarrel session hosted at the Vigo County Public Library on Saturday morning. After contentious legislation established Indiana as a right-to-work state this session, opponents registered their disapproval with representatives, promising “to remember in November.”
As it has for more than a year, the topic of right-to-work legislation, which prohibits labor contracts requiring workers to pay union fees, dominated discussions from the beginning. Rep. Clyde Kersey (D-Terre Haute) referenced the law as “right-to-work-for-less” and said Republicans drove it through the legislature as fast as possible, placing it on a “fast-track” rather than using normal protocol or the suggested referendum.
“We had a lot of people protesting House Bill 1001,” he said, remarking that the committee which passed it to the floor spent only six minutes in discussion. That move, he said, was a “low point” in the whole process.
A substantial portion of the two-hour crackerbarrel session featured back-and-forth jabs on the topic between union members and representatives.
Bill Treash, president of the Wabash Valley Central Labor Council, issued a blanket “shame on you” to officials voting for legislation he said will hurt workers.
“It will be remembered in November,” he said, issuing a phrase used by others throughout the session.
Treash asked for clarification about the constitutionality of using referendums for such an issue, as the idea was debated heavily before being deemed inappropriate. Right-to-work opponents tried to get the issue placed on the election ballot this year.
Rep. Bruce Borders (R-Jasonville) described that move as ironic considering the same groups were “kicking and screaming” about using a referendum to decide whether or not property tax caps would be placed in the state constitution. The state of California, he said, “governs by referendum,” and such policy has led to its near-bankrupt status as the process can be overused to the public’s detriment.
Borders and Treash disagreed on just how much impact the law will have regarding “freeloaders” in unions, those individuals who opt against paying dues but still demand representation. Borders said mechanisms are in place allowing unions to protect against abuse, while Treash said that’s not the case at all.
Sen. Tim Skinner (D-Terre Haute), agreed that referendums can be overused, but registered disappointment that one wasn’t used in the right-to-work issue.
“I thought the referendum was a great idea. It would have been a good way to settle the right-to-work issue,” he said, adding that regardless of the outcome, the people would have had a chance to voice their concerns.
Other topics, ranging from education reform to property tax caps, were interspersed throughout the forum, but the heat of right-to-work never truly disappeared, returning throughout the talks.
Rep. Bob Heaton (R-Terre Haute) responding to the alleged speed of the right-to-work passage, remarked that the legislature dedicated time during its 2011 summer session to study the matter which had sparked protests and debate across the country.
Treash later said those summer session studies totaled about 20 hours which, in his opinion, were not enough.
Heaton questioned just how many more hours would have been enough to satisfy the opposition given the entrenchment of both sides. Likening it to an earlier initiative he and other Wabash Valley officials launched which tried to make pseudoephedrine a prescription drug, the right-to-work bill was one where a majority of a minority felt very strongly about it, but the overall numbers just weren’t there. In the 46th district he represents, which includes portions of rural Clay, Morgan, Monroe and Owen counties, Heaton said the majority supported right-to-work legislation.
“So I listened to the people,” he said, explaining his support for the law.
Borders was a frequent target of right-to-work opponents throughout the session, and likewise maintained his support for his vote. Recalling that he was “kicked in the teeth” and “booed” by union members at a Labor Temple rally he’d been told would be congratulatory regarding highway projects, he said organized labor should remember the volume of work being handed to them by Republican initiatives such as Major Moves. Even if non-union companies move into Indiana, the work building those companies and the related infrastructure will most likely go to union contractors, he said.
“So I think that what’s good for business overall is good for the building trades,” he said.
When asked if the law had an expiration period, Kersey said Indiana’s right-to-work status will not “sunset,” but the state enacted laws such as this before and they were repealed in 1965. That could happen again, he said.
Skinner agreed that a repeal could be done, but described it as unlikely at present.
“We exist in a system where no one likes to admit they made a mistake,” he said, describing the combative partisan situation as one where “I’ll see your two experts and raise you one.”
Bernard Ridens of the Vigo County Taxpayers Association questioned the number of financial “mistakes” being made by the state, suggesting more and better qualified people need to be handling the books.
Kersey drew that comment into the issue of Indiana’s “finding” $324 million in its budget after slashing $600 million from education funding in years prior. Instead of putting it back into the education coffers, Republicans want to return it to taxpayers by way of a tax credit, he said.
“The majority of it’s going back to the taxpayers at $50 a whack,” he said. “To me that’s unconscionable. It’s unbelievable.”
Heaton and Borders pointed out that $80 million of that money will go to fund all-day kindergarten, with another $24 million designated for teachers’ pensions, meaning a large chunk of it will be returned to education.
Officials said the next crackerbarrel session is tentatively scheduled for March 10.
Local & Bistate
Even as law, right-to-work dominates crackerbarrel
- Local & Bistate
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Vigo County Jail Log: May 26, 2012
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- VIGO COUNTY JAIL LOG: May 22-24, 2012
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Historic preservation proposal discussed during open forum
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Search on for Gibault walkaway
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Graduate college in four years? ISU ‘guarantees’ it
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School bus crashes into central Indiana home
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The closing of St. Ann Parish: Shuttered parish will help others live on
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TB case cause for concern, not panic
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Dr. John Bolinger said the suspected TB case at Woodrow Wilson Middle School “is a concern,” but Vigo County and state health departments “are there to handle situations like this. They’ll do the right thing.” -
Woodgate residents considering legal action
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