(The following appeared on the Evansville Courier & Press website on February 16, 2011.)
INDIANAPOLIS — Union members from Southwestern Indiana condemned what they said are GOP-backed efforts to chip away at the power of organized labor during a Statehouse rally Tuesday.
Hundreds of steelworkers stood outside the state House and Senate chambers, hoping to snag their legislators as they stepped outside.
They were there to protest four measures currently being debated in the General Assembly:
— “Right to work” legislation that would bar compulsory labor union membership.
— Changes to the state’s unemployment insurance system that would cut average weekly jobless benefit payments from an average of $283 to about $220, and would add to the list of Hoosiers who are ineligible for benefits.
— New restrictions on teachers’ collective bargaining rights that would limit contracts between teachers and their school corporations to wage and benefits.
— The elimination of “project labor agreements,” which are collective bargaining agreements that set terms and conditions for all workers — union or non-union — on government-funded projects.
Two Alcoa employees and United Steel Workers Local 104 members said those four bills represent efforts by Republicans to weaken unions.
The full story appears at www.courierpress.com.