Teachers raise concerns with right-to-work law

Right-to-work legislation was passed earlier this month, but teachers in Indiana have been operating under similar provisions for years.

Rick Muir, president of the Indiana Federation of Teachers, said right-to-work policies have caused problems for teachers that will become more widespread in workers across the state.

“I think it should have been called right to work for less,” Muir said. “Wages and benefits packages for employees will drop considerably.”

The law, which forbids employment contracts that require union membership, was supported mostly by Republican lawmakers who said it would attract business to Indiana.

“I respect those who have objected, but they have alarmed themselves unnecessarily: No one’s wages will go down, no one’s benefits will be reduced and the right to organize and bargain collectively is untouched and intact,” Gov. Mitch Daniels said when he signed the bill into law Feb. 1.

Union supporters, however, have continued to say right to work is just a political ploy to weaken unions.

“Not only are these attacks mean-spirited, they are irresponsible,” Randi Weingarten, president of the American Federation of Teachers, said in a statement. “These tough times call for leaders willing to sit down and work collaboratively to create jobs and provide economic relief to our families and communities.”

Muir said the IFT has only seen a small drop in membership since right to work began but that even that can be “detrimental.”

“People no longer have to pay their fair shares on union dues, but they still get the benefits and representation,” Muir said. “What this is doing is weakening and busting unions.”

When the law passed in early February, union protesters marched to the Super Bowl Village and shouted slogans such as “we vote, we remember.”

Unions are expected to try to vote out the Republican-controlled Statehouse during the November elections in hopes of overturning the right-to-work bill.

“We’ll take our state back, one citizen at a time,” Indiana AFL-CIO President Nancy Guyott shouted from the Statehouse steps after the bill passed. “You ain’t seen
nothin’ yet.”

— Charles Scudder