Union bill dropped after Democrats walk out

Looking to the right, it’s full. Looking to the left, it’s empty.

The Indiana House of Representatives was scheduled to meet Tuesday to vote to pass House Bill 1468, better known as right-to-work legislation.

But Indiana House Democrats didn’t come in to work Tuesday. Many left the state.
Democrats left for Illinois to avoid police compulsion to return to the Statehouse.
House Democrats said this bill, as well as 10 others, caused them to leave the Statehouse until the bills were dropped from consideration, which happened Wednesday after three days of protest.

House Speaker Brian Bosma, R-Indianapolis, said House Minority Leader B. Patrick Bauer, D-South Bend, “has taken a page out of Wisconsin’s Senate playbook.”

A similar action was taken by Wisconsin Democrats last week in response to a collective bargaining rights bill.

The house needs 67 members to do business. With only 58 members out of 100 present, the Democrats’ absence made this impossible.

Gov. Mitch Daniels made a statement Tuesday afternoon saying he would not divert state officers from other responsibilities to bring back the absent legislators.

“Indiana State Police have a job to do and will not be diverted from protecting our citizens,” Daniels said.

The bill would have weakened the collective bargaining rights of labor unions. This would have prevented unions and companies from negotiating contracts requiring nonunion members to pay fees for representation.

In close proximity to Daniels’ Statehouse office, an estimated 4,000 union members packed the Statehouse Tuesday chanting “Ditch Mitch” and “Save our families.”
The other 10 bills included one that has already passed both the House and the Senate, which would cut unemployment benefits.

“Democrats are standing up to an agenda they believe will cut wages for Indiana workers, union or nonunion,” Indiana Democratic Party Chairman Dan Parker said. “When they drop bills, Democrats see it as an attack on the middle class.”

The mid-1990s was the last time House Democrats had a prolonged walk-out.
Republicans controlled the House and sought legislation to revise the division of
Indiana Representatives’ districts.

The Democrats won the standoff, waiting several days until Republicans dropped the bill.

And it appears this has happened again.

Both Bosma and Senate President Pro Tempore David Long, R-Fort Wayne, said it will not be revisited in Indiana.

“Even the smallest minority — and that’s what we’ve heard from the last couple days — has every right to express the strength of its views, and I salute those who do,” Daniels said.