INDIANAPOLIS —Lawmakers are planning to take four hours of testimony on the contentious “right to work” issue in a rare joint meeting of the Indiana House and Senate labor committees Friday morning.
While the bill is likely to win passage – Republicans who have sizeable majorities in both chambers list it as their top priority for 2012’s 10-week legislative session – the hearing comes as Democrats are trying to block it by boycotting the House.
They’ve skipped the first two days of this year’s session, and if they skip a third today, House Speaker Brian Bosma, R-Indianapolis, could choose to set into motion a state law that calls for $1,000-a-day fines.
House Minority Leader B. Patrick Bauer, D-South Bend, acknowledged Thursday that the fines are weighing on members of his caucus – a signal that they could return, giving the House its two-thirds quorum required to conduct business, soon.
They’ve been trying to stop the “right to work” measure, which would allow workers to opt out of paying union dues as a condition of employment.
Gov. Mitch Daniels and leading Republican lawmakers say Indiana should become the 23rd state with such a law on the books, because some business site selectors strike the state off their lists of potential locations due to its lack of one.
Labor groups that have packed the Statehouse with hundreds of protesters this week, meanwhile, say it would weaken unions’ bargaining strength – and therefore would undermine protections for their workers.