After capitulating to the union bosses, Gov. Mitch Daniels failed to buy peace. Democrats bolted the state despite Daniels efforts to kill a Right to Work bill where they remain. Now the union bosses are rallying to kill several other bills and say they won’t return until their demands are met. The GOP Speaker says He “won’t be bullied” except over Right to Work legislation and by his own Governor.
BigGovernment.com gives Fox News’ Neil Cavuto the answer to his question: Was Indiana Governor Mitch Daniels “punked” by Big Labor?
Great question by Fox News’ Neil Cavuto to Indiana Governor Mitch Daniels: “I am wondering if you just got punked?” Daniels responded that he did not understand the question, and then proceeded to answer his own question.
Yes, the governor and the Republican House Speaker Brian Bosma were punked by Big Labor Democrats in several ways…
Yep, Daniels was “punked,” if Cavuto means losing the battle before it began. Indiana gave public teachers the Right to Work in 1995, but Gov. Daniels refused to even fight for freedom for private sector employees.
Daniels can continue to talk about what he did in 2005 when he rescinded an executive order relating to union monopoly bargaining privileges over state government employees, but Daniels’ rescission can be easily overturned by the next governor. As Daniels seems to be learning, legislative battles, like the one in Wisconsin, take more fortitude.
Thanks to the Daniels’ strategy, Big Labor has already won. The item that they fear most, free choice for workers, was taken off the table before the Democrats left town; anything they get from here is “gravy.”
Hoosiers need jobs. Killing Right To Work killed Indiana jobs. Gov. Daniels has repeated on several occasions, that without Right To Work, at least 1/3 of the employers looking to bring jobs to Indiana cross the state off their list.
Balancing government budget is very important, but it will not create as many jobs for Indiana as a Right To Work law will. Companies are fleeing states bordering Indiana and many others are planning their possible relocations now, and even Daniels admits Indiana is off the list already for many.
By kicking the Right To Work bill down the road, the governor by his own admission removed Indiana from the relocation choices of a third of the potential new and expanding would-be Indiana employers; while simultaneously saddling hard-pressed Hoosiers with the continued burden of forced union payments.
Actually, it sounds like the citizens of Indiana are the ones who have been punked.
Click image to contact Gov. Daniels.
Attention Mitch Daniels! You may be able to find the courage and principles you lost in Maine.
That’s because Maine Gov. Paul LePage said Saturday he would push forcefully ahead with right-to-work legislation in his state, even if it means a Wisconsin-style fight with unions.
LePage is a leader who is not intimidated by threats and is willing to stand on principle for the right value and ideals — even if it means upsetting the Big Labor apple cart.
Click image to contact Gov. Daniels.
Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels got his wish — the state Right to Work bill has been shelved, thanks in part to his unwillingness to stand on principle. Daniels, who called the bill divisive, worked behind the scenes to see the bill killed. Despite his efforts to curry favor with Big Labor, the state’s Democrat’s also fled the state to avoid a vote on the issue. Now Democrats are demanding that 11 other bills be shelved before they come back to work.
Now Governor Daniels says “we won’t be bullied!” Oh really……
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Why are Democrats in Wisconsin and Indiana fleeing the state rather than vote on reform measures? It’s because Big Labor and the Democratic Party are completely codependent upon each other, the Investors Business Daily opines:
The fleeing Democrats in Wisconsin and Indiana say they are protecting state workers, but they have plenty of self-interested reasons to hit the road. Their self-imposed exile and national Democrats’ support show just how key Big Labor is to their fortunes.
Unions have long been a backbone of support for the Democratic Party. They have become even more important in recent years as they ramped up campaign efforts. Without them, Democrats have no chance of reversing the GOP’s 2010 gains.
The American Federation of State County and Municipal Employees, the top public-sector union, spent a reported $87.5 million nationally in the 2010 election cycle — 99% for Democrats. The Chamber of Commerce, by contrast, spent $75 million.
The National Education Association spent $40 million, and the Service Employees International Union spent $44 million.
That doesn’t count the unions’ importance in get-out-the-vote efforts, in organizing rallies and in other election activities.
There will be 91 electoral votes at stake in the seven upper Midwest states from Minnesota and Iowa to Pennsylvania (excluding President Obama’s home state of Illinois).
In 2008, Obama won all those states, including a narrow victory in Indiana. But in 2010, Republicans in the area had their best election in decades, picking up 16 House seats, two Senate seats, and five governorships. Only Minnesota’s governorship flipped from Republican to Democrat. (more…)
It was Right then. It is Right Now!
Once upon time not too long ago, a Big Labor-controlled congress attempted to do away with state Right To Work laws by repealing the worker protection that allows states to enact laws to protect their workers’ freedoms. Section 14(b) of the Taft-Hartley Act was the target of congress (see below). At that time, the Indianapolis Star printed the cartoon above to ridicule those opposed to Right To Work protections.
The same is true today. Right To Work gives workers a choice, without it, workers are forced to pay tribute to get or keep a job. Gov. Daniels and his Republican “Leaders” could have given that freedom to every working Hoosier; so far, they have failed the people of Indiana.
(b) Agreements requiring union membership in violation of State law
Nothing in this subchapter shall be construed as authorizing the execution or application of agreements requiring membership in a labor organization as a condition of employment in any State or Territory in which such execution or application is prohibited by State or Territorial law.
Often in the battle for media attention, the moral argument for Right To Work laws can be lost. As a reminder, here are but a few quotes from the late Notre Dame Professor Father Edward A. Keller, C.S.C.:
Right-to-Work in the American sense means that any worker, having the necessary qualifications, has the opportunity to seek work for whom he wishes, where he wishes and without undue interference. Because normally, a job is necessary for livelihood and therefore necessary for life itself, right to work is simply the extension of the inalienable right to life as announced in the Declaration of Independence.
“Right-to-Work” laws, therefore, do not pretend to create work or give a right to an actual job; these laws seek merely to protect the constitutional and natural right to work from the restriction of compulsory union membership, which restricts the exercise of the right to work only to members of a union.
It should be emphasized that the right not to join is a necessary corollary of the right to join, for without a right not to join there can be no such thing as a right to join. Freedom rests on choice, and where choice is denied freedom is destroyed as well.
Voluntarism is at the foundation of our Christian and constitutional heritage. To deny it in an area as broad and important as labor, could so weaken that foundation as to threaten all our cherished natural and constitutional rights. This would be “selling our heritage for a mess of pottage.”
– Excerpts taken from Father Keller’s Book: The Case for Right-to-Work Laws, A Defense of Voluntary Unionism (The Heritage Foundation, Inc., 1956).
In order to avoid a vote on making Indiana a Right to Work state, Democrats are taking their lead from their counterparts in Wisconsin and are running away.
From the Indianapolis Star:
House Democrats are leaving the state rather than vote on anti-union legislation, The Indianapolis Star has learned.
A source said Democrats are headed to Illinois, though it was possible some also might go to Kentucky. They need to go to a state with a Democratic governor to avoid being taken into police custody and returned to Indiana.
