it's sis
on the phone
laura claussen
labor reporter at uh... the daily clues that daily coz dot com
laura welcome back to the show
thanks for having me
now uh... so uh... give me a little bit of background on this in vienna attack
on unions
why no was happening last year when uh... the scott walker was attacking
unions in wisconsin and it was big back but what's happened since then
uh... basically what happened is last year indiana democrat fled the state to
avoid are
giving republicans a quorum that they needed to pass this bill
republicans came back this year to their new legislative session saying this is
our truck top priority and in the meantime they had passed
a bill saying that if democrats flee the state
date at find af housing dollars of debt nights
nice work on their part
and uh... so what what exactly is the bill
it's what's called a breakthrough park dell which is terrible name i mean it's
one of these republicans
names that they come up with things
actually what it says is that
workers
who don't wanna belong to unions
we don't have to pay for their share of being represented in other states worker
sit on a blunt reunion don't have to even if they work in a union workplace
but they pay a share of
uh... of the fees too
cover
the union's expenses in bargaining contract in representing an increase in
size
so-called right-to-work states
they don't even have to pay that but the union continues to have to represent
them
so salary they don't they won't pay al full union dues but the pay a small
percentage
uh... which because of the union's among be bargaining power uh... comes back to
them in spades anyways in terms of money
exactly
and i guess uh... uh... benefits and
uh... worker protections
and and and what what do you what what do you material affects of this and that
it's not just
about uh... freeing um... freeloaders essentially
to get um... free representation in the workplace of what what what are the
implications of these so-called right-to-work laws
also basically is weakens unions in the state and means that they have
the they're not getting
the money that they need to represent workers
that means that they can't do other things that they would normally do
it meets there leslie the likely to try to organize workers in the state
so overall it's a stable weekends unions in
the state that it's past ten
and at that allows
that allows employers to track down wages and working conditions for effort
you right-hand p_c_ put up on uh...
billy coz i guess over though
weekend
uh... stated a couple of different uh... uh... studies that showed
that uh... unionized big unionization drives drop by uh... thirty percent in
the in the following five years uh... of uh... the passing these legislations
uh... organizing winds of fell by forty six percent
uh... wages drop
of the uh... portions of free riders uh...
uh... ranges from nine to thirty nine percent
uh... in certain states image so this business
this is really clearly an attempt to destroy union ceo
absolutely and you know what republicans say internet christie's losses
well it might not be good for unions but it's good for workers because it brings
more jobs to the state
but that's actually not true you better
and uh... i mean there that there's a lot of uh... dated two to show that that
debt
companies just don't um... moved to the states amina i reap
to the extent that they do it would have been you would be illegal in some
respects one
yeah well you know i mean you have cases where companies do move explicitly for
that but in most cases what we see
as far as companies moving into right-to-work states is the cost of the
right-to-work states
our southern states that are warm and that have big cheap immigrant
populations so
studies in a reasonable studies show that
the reasons that companies move to the states to the extent that they even do
which is far overblown
is for things could not at all related to labor log
anguish remind people to that this notion that somehow uh... unions are
forcing
these people to uh... engage in the union activities
his you know
you're also uh... when you work for a corporation
you're also forced
to with
to engage in their activities
right i mean
you've got to go to uh... there's a lot of things that the corporation when you
work for them uh... makes uh... them do i mean the idea that
uh... you're forced into a situation where you have more bargaining power
and of worker is is not terribly oppressive
so of what is the status
uh... last week the it tell me what what the exactly what the state of play is in
indiana right now
in indiana the report that republicans have enough votes in the senate they
don't need democrats to even have a quorum
so they got it through a senate committee and it will be going to the
full senate for a vote
uh... interestingly there was a republican defection on that senate
committees so
republicans are not united on this
in the house democrats can prevent a quorum and they have been staying out
uh... they hit the three days that they're allowed to eat
to stay out before they start getting fined two thousand dollars a day
and on friday afternoon a few democrats sort of trickled back
so the question is are there more republican votes that can be flipped
against it
or
the minute
democrats show back up so that they don't lose their houses to these fines
to republicans just ran the trip
well and how many democrats are out in other words like uh... we talking about
uh... three thousand dollars a day or fifty thousand dollars
uh... they're at least
thirty-seven democrats in
v indiana house
and um... analyst there's forty so
uh... forty thousand dollars that right
right decide on numbers that would be easy for people to to raise on behalf of
these people
right and then the thing is that
all of the democrats don't need to go back to allow republicans a quorum only
seven of them
need to go back
so
you know you really have to hold the united front to make this work and
what's happening in terms of like protests against this i mean i remember
last time ninety and it was pretty pretty active in terms of protest uh...
our our our people rebelling against this in any way
have slightly in a few bought have been there
flooding the state house every day that republicans actually tried to you
limited numbers of protesters they could be allowed in the state house and had to
go back on that after some bad publicity
but um... one hundred bad publicity for uh... limiting the size of protests at
unit in indiana you can do that here you can actually are
in new york city you can actually cordon off an entire block and say it's a
protest free zone
uh... if uh... if uh... the mayor somebody really wealthy lives near there
yet you know it's it's funny how
concerned indiana republicans were about this 'cause they really tried to go for
on they said you know lobbyists in
everyone else can go in but then only a certain number of
the general public can go in
rights i think that was part of it they were saying that lobbyists could go in
but not you know people who want to talk to their legislators
uh... they should look into a contest you need to you need to make a certain
amount of money um...
uh... every year to uh... to actually show up
uh... what one thing that's interesting about this is creating serve an
interesting dynamic is my sense is that
the republicans are sort of
uh... fast tracking this
because there's an event coming up in february that may uh... put more
pressure on yes something you mad at her dot called the super bowl it's going to
be held in indianapolis uh... and of course
n_f_l_ players are union members they had their own labor dispute with a lock
out this past year
so they've released a statement saying then that they opposed this line you
know just so
indiana republicans
would prefer to have this
over and done with before up
bunch of very high profile union members arrived in town
i'd love to see tom brady when he's down there playing with the patriots in the
soup bowl this year
uh... be able to speak out on this uh... uh...
but uh...
i guess it still use they've got a still well with a couple more races so
and uh... games
uh... still lingers crossed u_s_
so um... when will we know what the outcome is amazed
uh... it's basically the this dynamic of home powell
how long can the uh... the democrats they out with this
thousand dollar fine over their heads
right exactly how long can they stay out and is there any chance of enough
republicans flipping their votes to prevent the bill from going through this
is that chance exists then it becomes a lot more worth it for democrats to stay
out for a few days while pressure gets put on those republicans
if there's no chance and why are they gonna rack up these fees to delay it a
few more days how hard is it to to reverse these type of bills and then do
you think there's any potential in the future to do so
evide required
taking be india email
electing a democratic majority in indiana which has not happened in quite
some time
so it has happened in the past that adele has been passed and then
overturned that just based on the electoral realities in indiana right now
it's unlikely are there any specific uh... industries that are really pushing
this or is this just sort of like a
uh... just the the the republicans are just want to be entirely burr
is really a republican west list and you don't actually see companies coming
forward and saying we totally move jobs there if it was right work
it just doesn't happen
well all right uh... well uh... uh...
lower costs and from uh... daily coz of the labor thanks so much for joining us
who created it will keep our eye on this as it continues