Democrats in the Indiana legislature have ended their walkout of the state House, which was tying up a bill that would hinder labor unions. But they’re not promising that they won’t do it again.
The Indianapolis Star reports that Republican leaders now hope to hold two key votes: One on Thursday, on changes to the bill that were made in a special joint House/Senate committee last week, and a final vote on passage on Friday.
But state House Minority Leader Pat Bauer (D) is still not declaring defeat:
Asked how they would change [Republican House Speaker Brian] Bosma’s mind on holding floor debate and vote on the bill this week, Bauer said: “You know, we’re not chained to these seats… If the majority does things radically wrong, we still have the right to break the quorum and move on for a day or two.”
But, Bauer stressed, Democrats are taking this day-by-day and have made no decisions.
“We haven’t addressed that. I’m asking (Bosma) to consider more time,” he said.
The “right-to-work” law would go beyond the current crackdowns on public-sector unions, by forbidding private-sector companies and unions from negotiating a contract that would require the collection of partial union dues from non-members.
Unions must, in fact, negotiate on behalf of all employees within the bargaining unit, not just their own members. Thus, right-to-work laws enable employees to free-ride on labor negotiations, with the effect of damaging union financing and overall organization to begin with.
Right-to-work laws are very common in the South and the West, totaling 22 states that have such statutes. But as the New York Times has pointed out, this would make Indiana the first state to adopt the law in the traditional manufacturing belt, which stretches from the Midwest up through New England.
The Indiana state constitution requires a two-thirds majority on the floor in order to form a quorum. The Democrats, who are outnumbered 60-40, were employing an interesting parliamentary tactic starting last week on Wednesday: Holding caucus meetings in the state Capitol, a form of official business — but without enough of them going to the floor at the same time to allow a quorum.
Last year, the state House Dems fled the state in order to block the two-thirds quorum on a variety of legislation, including the right-to-work. They returned to the state after securing a number of concessions, including an end to the right-to-work push by the Republican majority. (When the Dems fled, the same tactic was just being used, though ultimately without success, by Wisconsin Democrats against an anti-public employee union measure.)
Afterwards, the “anti-bolting” law was passed, imposing a fine of $1,000 per day if legislators ever again fled in order to block a quorum for three days or more. The Dems were potentially leaving themselves open to those fines, with the three-day trigger occurring this past Friday — but their return to the legislature, even if only temporary, might have defused the situation.
Eric Kleefeld
Eric Kleefeld joined TPM as an intern for the final months of the 2006 midterm elections, and then kept showing up for work. His other interests include guitars, old comic books and the politics of various English-speaking countries.
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