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December 18, 2011

BRIAN HOWEY: Right to Work is more about politics than jobs

Brian Howey The Tribune-Star

Gov. Mitch Daniels and Republican legislative leaders say that with the unemployment rate continuing to hover at an unacceptably high 9 percent, we need “every tool available” to attract jobs. Thus, the Right to Work legislation has become the No. 1 issue heading into the 2012 General Assembly short session.

I’m not necessarily for or against Right to Work. But I have a propensity to call things the way they are. Like, if we have casinos in Indiana, they once had to be “riverboats” and developers had to dig inland moats to put them in. Stupid. Or, if marijuana is to be legal, it has to be “medical marijuana.” Dumb.

While Right to Work is a tool in the job development box, this is what it really is: the final union-busting maneuver of the Daniels’ era. And Republicans can do it, like a dog licking himself, because they can.

Indiana Democrats became so vacuous, so devoid of ideas this past decade, and so mean at campaigning, that Hoosier Republicans have won two straight governor races, have a super majority in the Indiana Senate and a 60-40 majority in the Indiana House, with a good chance of making it a super majority next year.

That’s what happens when you have a mind trust like House Minority Leader B. Patrick Bauer.

In the Daniels’ era, the GOP has systemically knocked out the supporting trusses of the Indiana Democratic Party. Secretary of State Todd Rokita created a statewide voter file to clamp down on redundant voting. When he was a federal District Attorney Joseph Van Bokkelen took on the Pastrick Lake Democratic machine with RICO laws and former Attorney General Steve Carter went after millions of casino-generated East Chicago’s Second Century funds. 

On his first full day in office, Gov. Daniels ended collective bargaining for state employees and watched as unionized membership tumbled by 90 percent. Daniels ended the personal license plate money that used to go to the political parties, costing Indiana Democrats $750,000 a year. Indiana Treasurer Richard Mourdock - with Gov. Daniels cheering him on — tried to stop the Chrysler/Fiat merger. If Chrysler and General Motors had collapsed, the United Auto Workers - one of the biggest funders and phone-bankers in Indiana gubernatorial politics for decades — would have been neutered.

Now the historic opportunity is to end mandatory union membership with Right to Work. My Democratic sources acknowledge that should this occur, union membership across the board could decrease in the 50 to 75 percent range. The UAW and the Indiana State Teachers Association — the massive funders of gubernatorial, Congressional and legislative campaigns in Indiana — won’t have nearly the clout.

So there is a significant political component to Right to Work, and anyone who denies it has a bridge to sell you in the Arizona desert.

I have viewed unions and business organizations like the Indiana Chamber and the Indiana Manufacturers Association as bookends. Both have Political Action Committees that fund gubernatorial and legislative races. We’ve had competitive politics here because of that dynamic. If you’re a Republican, Right to Work will crimp the unions and thus the Democratic Party. When they peer into the future, they envision a “Gov. Mike Pence” and two super majority legislative houses. In that scenario, you can kiss moderation goodbye.

Conversely, Right to Work could make unions better, and its leaders more responsive to their membership.

Now, why do I think Right to Work will be more like a little crescent wrench in the economic development tool box, as opposed to a power drill or a pneumatic nailer?

Because Indiana has seen its union membership drop over the last half century from the 40th percentile to about 10 percent today. And the jobs that Indiana is trying to grow and attract — life sciences, logistics, advanced manufacturing, orthopedics, agricultural science, nanotechnology, information technology — aren’t unionized segments of the economy.

State Rep. Tom Dermody of LaPorte became one of the first Republicans to line up against the measure. He used the country club analogy, telling the Michigan City News-Dispatch, “It is as if the members pay dues because they want to use the golf course, but they let other people who don’t pay dues use the course too.” Companies seeking to relocate “want to know about taxes, about a competent workforce, about good schools,” Dermody said.

The Indiana Chamber counters by saying local officials never hear about such companies because they cross Indiana off the list without even exploring it.

I’ve heard many Republicans over the years say that true job creation comes from small businesses and homegrown companies like Conseco and Cook Group that began as little bitty startups and grew into Fortune 500 status. These types of companies don’t tend to be unionized either.

The danger for Indiana Republicans is that personal income in Right to Work states declines. As is the middle class, with tens of thousands of Hoosier families falling from those ranks. Democratic gubernatorial candidate John Gregg sees it as a classic “overreach.”

Right to Work is likely to pass next January. But it’s more about politics than job creation.

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