(The following appeared on the Indianapolis Star website on March 10, 2011.)
INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. — David Frye wants the lawmakers who want to change Indiana’s collective bargaining rules to know that this fight hits home.
It’s a message Frye, a Laborers International Union member from Terre Haute, plans to deliver in person today at what is expected to be the largest Statehouse rally in 16 years.
Republicans say the changes they are seeking will benefit taxpayers by lowering the cost of public construction projects. Frye said labor union members are taxpayers, and lower wages for them will erode wages for everyone, while hurting the businesses where they spend their paychecks and the state, which collects taxes.
The rally, which begins at 11:30 a.m. on the west side of the Statehouse, is expected to be the largest since 20,000 union members rallied in 1995 to protest legislation targeting their wages on public projects.
Union members say their wages again are under assault. Combined with proposed education reforms that they think will hurt the public schools their children attend and in which many union members teach, they’ve launched daily protest rallies.
The full story is at www.indystar.com.