INDIANAPOLIS — Union workers who crowded the Capitol grounds to oppose Republican-backed labor bills Thursday say their massive protest was successful, even though official crowd estimates came in well under expectations.
Thousands of laborers huddled together for hours through bitter cold winds and hints of snow outside the Statehouse. They carried signs with slogans like “Create Jobs — Not Division” and “I’m Sick and Tired of Being Sick and Tired.”
One man dressed as Santa Claus, and others nestled a “fat-cat” balloon into the crowd. They listened to speech after speech from labor leaders and even one of the more than 30 Indiana Democrats who fled to Illinois last month.
“We are voters, we are veterans and we are taxpayers,” Nancy Guyott, president of the Indiana AFL-CIO, said. “In short, brothers and sisters, we are Indiana. It was our hands, our sweat, our tears, our toil that built this great state, and we’re not going to stand idly by while it’s under attack from outside forces.”
Indiana State Police estimated the size of the crowd at the rally to be about 8,000 people, well below the 25,000 or so predicted by the unions that organized it. But Jeff Harris, a spokesman for the AFL-CIO, disputed that count and said the crowd amounted to about 20,000 people. Harris said his union had 230 buses carrying 40 people each to Indianapolis, meaning at least 9,200 people were there.
GOP cites ‘distortions’
Republican House Speaker Brian Bosma released a statement after the rally supporting the unions’ right to protest. But he said distortions of his party’s proposals “continues to amaze me.”
“No reasonably informed person can honestly state that our desire to transform public education is an effort to destroy it,” Bosma said. “In fact, our hope is just the opposite — to make outstanding education options, whether public or private, available to every Hoosier family regardless of their income or zip code.”
“Likewise, no reasonably informed observer can honestly state that our proposals are designed to ‘eliminate the middle class’ or drive workers to ‘the minimum wage for life.’ ”
But Richard Lockwood of Portage, a retired steelworker, suspects just that of the Republican party.
“All they want, Republicans, is the rich and the poor,” Lockwood said. “They don’t want a middle class.”
Dan Hayden, an Illinois resident who works in Crown Point, said he wished House Republicans had been in the Statehouse to see the rally. Bosma has said he won’t gavel the House to order until Monday because some lawmakers lost hotel rooms to the Big Ten basketball tournament in Indianapolis.
Kyle Bauer, a Highland resident who works at a Strack & Van Til warehouse in Munster, didn’t buy that explanation.
“It just shows that they’re scared and don’t want to stand up,” Bauer said.
Still, Hayden said he’s sure Republicans knew about the rally. And he said he just wants to make sure workers’ voices are heard.
“We’re all working,” Hayden said. “We’re trying to support our families here. I just wish these people would realize it. We just want a piece of the pie, too.”
Rep. Bill Crawford, D-Indianapolis, was among the speakers at the rally. His caucus is staying in an Urbana, Ill. Comfort Suites in a protest that has stopped the House from doing any business for nearly three weeks. Rep. Mara Candelaria Reardon, D-Munster, was also at the Statehouse.
Dems pay it forward
Crawford was joined on the steps of the Capitol by Democratic Sens. Frank Mrvan of Hammond, Lonnie Randolph of East Chicago, Earline Rogers of Gary and Karen Tallian of Portage.
“We gave up our pay,” Crawford told the crowd. “We are not costing the taxpayers any money. But we’re standing for families. We’re standing for the middle class. We’re standing for teachers. We do not want non-certified, non-licensed teachers teaching our children.”
Democrats, who say they’re giving up their daily per diem, are protesting not only the GOP’s labor bills but also school voucher and charter school expansion bills.
Georgette Depew of Schererville, Dawn Szany of Dyer and Shari Barton of DeMotte, all teachers at Joseph Hess Elementary School in Hammond, joined the rally and said there have been a lot of “misrepresentations” about public education as Republicans promote their ideas.
Depew said preserving teachers’ collective bargaining rights was at the core of their mission at the rally.
“They don’t know how many thousands of dollars we spend on books in our classrooms,” Depew said. “We get $40 a year for classroom supplies.”
Rosa Maria Rodriguez of East Chicago, financial secretary for United Steelworkers Local 1010, was also on the speakers list. She told the crowd how unions improved her life. Afterward, she said she has heard from several Republicans who are not happy with the agenda of their Republican representatives in the House.
She said a “handful” of politicians are pushing the controversial proposals.
“And shame on them for speaking lies,” Rodriguez said.