Indiana House Passes a Bill on Union Fees
Indiana House Passes a Bill on Union Fees
By MONICA DAVEY
Published: January 25, 2012
The Republican-held Indiana House of Representatives passed legislation on Wednesday barring union contracts from requiring nonunion members to pay fees for representation, ending weeks of partisan battling and all but assuring that the state will become the first in the Midwestern manufacturing belt deemed a “right to work” state.
Even as the lawmakers in Indianapolis voted 54 to 44, mostly along partisan lines, to approve the measure, legislators and union leaders in other states said they were preparing for similar fights ahead. In some states, Republican supporters of “right to work” provisions said Indiana’s move — the first state to take such a course in more than a decade — had added a sense of urgency to their own efforts.
“I’m disappointed that they beat us to this one,” Mike Shirkey, a Republican state representative from Michigan, said of Indiana, adding that he hoped a similar measure might soon be debated in Michigan. “Now a border state is going to establish a leverage position in being attractive to businesses.”
Union organizers, who had mobilized scores of supporters to chant in protest from the halls in the Indiana Statehouse, said Indiana’s fight had left them girding for battles in other capitals.
More:
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/26/us/indiana-house-passes-right-to-work-bill.html?_r=1&ref=politics
