Labor & Employment Law

Indiana Working Families ?Standing Up for Hooisers?

By James Parks

For the 11th straight day, working families will converge at the Indiana Statehouse in Indianapolis to protest the General Assembly’s anti-worker agenda.

Tonight?s “Stand Up for Hoosiers” rally will focus on working families and will feature various local entertainers, faith leaders, workers sharing their stories and a candlelight vigil. AFT President Randi Weingarten also will speak to the crowd.

While Indiana House Democrats remain out of state to prevent passage of anti-worker legislation, House Minority Leader Pat Bauer returned yesterday for negotiations. Rather than bargaining or compromising, Republicans refused to deal on bills that would take away the collective bargaining rights of teachers and other public employees.

Speaking to the crowd yesterday, Bauer said:

“In Indiana, it’s hard for working people to get a fair balance. That’s what this is about.”

Indiana State AFL-CIO President Nancy Guyott said:

“This is a critical moment for our movement and for the working people of Indiana. If we don?t step up to stop these attacks on the middle class, the effects will be devastating.”

Indiana working families have proposed a ?Workers? Bill of Rights? that puts Hoosiers first. The Bill of Rights would include the right to fair pay, the freedom to join a union and the right to health care.

The crowds at the state Capitol have been large as working people, students, religious leaders and community activists are joining the struggle for workers? rights. More than 2,000 people jammed the Capitol building Monday to hear actor and activist Danny Glover. Another 1,000 rallied Tuesday.

Workers across the state are unified in the effort to defeat the anti-worker measures, said Pete Rimsans, executive director of the Indiana State Building and Construction Trades Council, who addressed the AFL-CIO Executive Council earlier this week.

 What the Republicans don?t understand is that we?re all in the same boat. You take one of us down, you take all of us. This unified everyone.

Since last week, Bruce Schweizer, president of UAW Local 5, has been organizing workers to come to the Statehouse each day. He said:

We started out with a carload, two carloads, three carloads. Then we got a 39-passenger bus. Now we got a 55-passenger bus. This is what we ought to be doing.

Full post as published by AFL-CIO NOW BLOG on March 03, 2011 (boomark / email).