Proponents may call it perfect timing, while opponents may consider it the perfect storm as Indiana could be on the verge of repeating history in an expected legislative battle for Right to Work legislation.
In March 1957, Indiana, though strongly unionized and heavily industrialized, became the 18th state, at the time, to adopt Right to Work legislation.
Still, in 1965 Indiana became the first state to repeal such legislation.
Hoosiers will soon learn if history repeats, as proponents and opponents of Right to Work legislation are already organizing to coordinate a campaign that will likely dominate discussion in the 2012 Indiana General Assembly.
Right to Work refers to state laws that guarantee that a person cannot be required, as a condition of employment, to join or pay dues to a labor union.
• Proponents contend legislation would attract more business to Indiana and thereby increase the number of jobs, plus improve union accountability.
• Opponents, who often refer to it as a Right-to-Work-for-less law, say the laws are anti-union and harm unions’ ability to obtain higher wages for workers. In addition, nonunion workers would receive union representation without paying for it, opponents say.
In 1957, the Indiana House speaker and Senate president supported passage of the measure. Republicans held majorities in both the House and Senate.
Since 1965, three states have passed Right to Work legislation — Louisiana in 1976; Idaho in 1985; and Oklahoma in 2001. Overall, 22 states have enacted such legislation..
In the upcoming 2012 General Assembly, House Speaker Brian Bosma, R-Indianapolis, and Senate President David Long, R-Fort Wayne, each have stated they will support passage of a Right to Work law.
Republicans hold a 60 to 40 majority in the Indiana House and a 37 to 13 majority in the Indiana Senate.
Gov. Mitch Daniels said he supports the legislation, even though he considers it a divisive issue. He advised GOP leaders last year not to pursue the legislation. When legislation was introduced, House Democrats walked out and stayed in Illinois until Republicans backed off.
Tucker, Bayh played roles
In the 1955 gubernatorial election, then-Democrat candidate Ralph Tucker, mayor of Terre Haute, said he would veto Right to Work legislation. Republican Harold W. Handley remained noncommittal on the issue during the campaign, according to Fred Witney’s “The Indiana Right-to-Work Law” published in 1958 in the Industrial and Labor Relations Review. Witney was an associate professor of economics at Indiana University.
In 1957, after a Right to Work bill was introduced, Gov. Handley said he would permit the bill to become law without his signature while the Legislature was in session. However, that meant the bill could fall into a “pocket veto” and die during the final three days of the session. That did not happen, as the bill was passed before the final three days of the 1957 session, according to Witney.
At the time, Birch Bayh, then a 29-year-old Vigo County resident, was serving as House Minority Leader.
“It was a very hotly contested thing,” Bayh, now 83, said in a telephone interview from his Maryland home. Bayh served in the Indiana House from 1954 to 1962 and later served as a U.S. Senator for Indiana from 1963 to 1981.
“I remember standing on the interior balcony floor and looking down,” Bayh said. “The first floor of the Statehouse was just covered, packed from people who had been energized by the AFL [American Federation of Labor] and CIO [Congress of Industrial Organizations]. They were swarming in and out of the governor’s office. The balcony was covered with people, too.
“There was nothing we could do when I was minority leader, because we just didn’t have the votes. We also didn’t have the Senate,” said Bayh, who voted against the Right to Work legislation.
Still, the issue crossed party lines, Bayh recalled.
Overall, the legislation was approved by 76 Republicans and five Democrats, and opposed by 30 Republicans and 35 Democrats.
In the House, Bayh was the party leader of 24 Democrats. The House had 75 Republicans, yet the legislation passed out of the House with a 54 to 42 vote.
“That came as a surprise to me, frankly,” Bayh said. “The Republicans made this a sort of litmus test and so did the Democrats. I think it spoke well for organized labor. We came closer than the numbers would have suggested. It was because people let their legislators know that they would be watching how they would be voting on that.”
Witney, however, contends labor lost the vote because it was unorganized. Supporters of Right to Work began organizing in 1955 and later formed a Right to Work Committee to coordinate a campaign. It received the cooperation of the Indianapolis Chamber of Commerce, the Indiana State Chamber of Commerce, the Associated Employers of Indiana and the Indiana Manufacturers Association.
In addition, the groups received assistance from national organizations such as the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the National Association of Manufacturers and the National Right to Work Committee.
In the election after Right to Work legislation passed, Democrats gained a majority in the Indiana House, with Bayh serving as Indiana House Speaker in 1959.
As a state representative seeking re-election in 1955, Bayh said he first learned of Right to Work legislation after meeting a member of a typesetter union. “I was asked where do I stand on Right to Work. My first reaction as a farm boy was that everybody ought to have the right to work,” he chuckled.
“I was educated on what it meant,” he added.
Bayh said he believed trade unions “should have the opportunity to affect their own futures. If you had votes [from employees of a business], you would have a union; if not, you would not have a union,” he said. “That gave them the only tool they had to defend against the power of management. I am not opposed to management ... but there has to be some balancing scale.”
Howard Greninger can be reached at (812) 231-4204 or howard.greninger@tribstar.com.
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