Indiana's Union-Busting 'Right-to-Work' Bill Becomes Law, Thousands Take to Streets in Protest

Indiana State Capital

 The Indiana Senate voted 28-22 Wednesday to pass the so-called 'right-to-work' bill that forces unions to represent workers who do not pay dues. The bill is widely seen as an attack on the ability of private sector unions to organize and to carry out political activity. Indiana Governor Mitch Daniels (R) signed the bill into law shortly after.

Advocates for labor rights stress that unions negotiate for better working conditions for everybody, not just union members, and that barring these payments is a blow to labor organizing. Indiana is the first state in the manufacturing belt to pass such a bill, though it is the twenty-third 'right-to-work' state in the country. The bill created such controversy in Indiana that Democrats in Senate repeatedly walked out over what they described as Republicans' unwillingness to hear debate.   READ MORE