(The following column by Matthew Tully appeared on the Indianapolis Star website on March 11, 2011.)
INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. — I waded into the crowd of Carhartt-wearing, sign-carrying union protesters outside the Statehouse on Thursday and came across Bernie Schwartz, a 50-year-old truck driver from Portage.
As he stood listening to a speaker on the Statehouse steps several hundred feet away, I asked Schwartz what he wanted his fellow Hoosiers to know about the ongoing dispute over legislation to weaken labor unions.
“I just want them to know that I want to be able to continue to keep my family supported,” he said.
More than all of the signs dotting the crowd, and more than all of the news releases issued by unions throughout the day, Schwartz’s brief statement underscored the state of affairs at the Statehouse.
It’s personal.
Let’s put aside for now the arguments both in favor of and against the union-related bills at the center of the nearly three-week-old stalemate in the Indiana House. Instead, think about what Schwartz said. Because if you do, and if you accept that he and others see this battle as crucial to their personal economic situations, you’ll begin to understand how little room for compromise some feel there is.
Police ultimately estimated the crowd at about 8,000. But crowd estimates are simply educated guesses and, in the end, who really cares? The bottom line was this: There were a lot of people at the Statehouse, and they delivered a clear message that gave House Democrats incentive to continue their walkout.
“We don’t want Republicans to mess with our jobs,” said Charlton Taylor, a union worker from Indianapolis.
It’s pretty simple. When the issue is people’s jobs, or their perception that their jobs are at risk, the debate quickly gets emotional. The actual arguments for or against a piece of legislation get buried. The goal of finding a middle ground disappears.
As I walked through the crowd Thursday, breathing in cigarette smoke and listening to the words of those who stood in the cold, I felt desperation in many voices. People told me paychecks were at stake, and it doesn’t get more personal than that.
On policy, the union workers at the Statehouse may or may not be right. But for them, this isn’t a typical policy debate. This is about their bottom line. Anyone interested in settling the ongoing Statehouse impasse needs to understand that.
The full column appears on the Indianapolis Star website.