Ind. poised for right-to-work era; protest planned

INDIANAPOLIS — State lawmakers were poised Wednesday to pass legislation that would make Indiana the Rust Belt's first right-to-work state and prohibit labor contracts requiring workers to pay union representation fees.

Hundreds of union members protesting the legislation filled Statehouse hallways and gathered outside the building as debate on the bill began. Protesters said they hoped a rally through downtown Indianapolis, which is bustling with Super Bowl festivities, would bring a national spotlight to what was happening in the state.

Indiana would be the first state in a decade to enact a right-to-work law prohibiting labor contracts that require workers to pay union representation fees. The Indiana victory is expected to embolden national right-to-work advocates, who have unsuccessfully pushed the measure in other states following a Republican sweep of statehouses in 2010. But few right-to-work states boast Indiana's union clout, borne of a long manufacturing legacy.

Oklahoma, with its rural-based economy that produces comparatively fewer union jobs than Indiana, passed right-to-work legislation in 2001.

The Indiana Senate scheduled a Wednesday morning vote on the bill that, if passed, would be sent to Republican Gov. Mitch Daniels, who has said he will sign it as soon as it arrives on his desk.

The vote in the Republican-controlled Senate, and Daniels' anticipated signature, will close one chapter in a contentious debate that sparked a five-week walkout by outnumbered House Democrats last year and saw them stage numerous boycotts this session, delaying action on other bills and threatening to spill over into the Feb. 5 Super Bowl.

But union protesters say they aren't ready to be silenced.

Chuck Wheeldon of Lafayette, wearing a Super Bowl 2012 baseball cap, said he was glad Indianapolis was hosting the game in a stadium that many of his fellow carpenters union members helped build.

"I don't want to ruin it for anybody, but I definitely want everybody around the rest of the country to know what the heck is going on," Wheeldon said. "If we cause a little ruckus, so be it."

Daniels said this week that it would be a "colossal mistake" for union protesters to disrupt Super Bowl festivities and that any such move could backfire on them.