Editor’s Note: With a jam-packed 2012 legislative calendar getting underway this month in most states, the Battleground Bulletin will be coming to you on a daily basis starting next week. We look forward to your continued readership and activism as we continue to fight back for public services and workers’ rights this year.

Indiana GOP, Ignoring the Message Voters Sent in 2011, Revive Anti-Worker Bill

Jan. 10: Hoosiers protest in the Indiana Statehouse during Gov. Mitch Daniels’s final State of the State address. Earlier in the day, Republican state representatives voted on right-to-work-for-less legislation without allowing for debate or public questions. (Robert Scheer/The Indianapolis Star)

As state legislatures return to work this month, they do so in a political environment that has changed greatly in the past year. Thanks in no small part to your hard work and activism, public discourse is now focused more on the needs and concerns of the 99 percent than the top one percent. But, despite the strong message voters sent last year, some of the anti-worker politicians who attacked public services and workers’ rights in 2011 have AFSCME members squarely in their crosshairs again this year.

It took only six minutes, eight votes and zero debate for anti-worker state representatives in Indiana to pass their ALEC-inspired right-to-work-for-less bill through the committee process this week. Gov. Mitch Daniels and his legislative allies are ignoring the the public and rushing to pass the anti-worker legislation to prevent a protracted battle that could potentially include a national focus on workers’ rights demonstrations as Indianapolis hosts the Super Bowl.

“I felt like that committee hearing did not show respect to the institution, to the Constitution, to rules and legislative tradition,” said Bloomington Democratic Rep. Peggy Welch.

While Indiana Republicans press ahead with right-to-work-for-less legislation while ignoring the protests of their constituents, evidence shows that right-to-work-for-less laws substantially lower wages without adding jobs. A full-time worker in a right-to-work-for-less state makes, on average, $1,500 less each year than a worker in a similar job in a state without this law.

This latest democracy-silencing tactic attempted by the governor and his legislative cronies, comes on the heels of Daniels announcing limits to the number of visitors to the State Capitol. “[Daniels] silenced the voices of 30,000 state employees by stripping them of collective bargaining rights on his first day in office and then he tried to silence working-class Hoosiers by denying them access to the Statehouse,” said Indiana AFSCME Council 62 Executive Director and AFSCME international vice president, David Warrick.

AFSCME members led the way when workers’ rights were under attack in Wisconsin and Ohio and stand ready to take action to turn back any right-to-work efforts that spring up in Indiana or New Hampshire or in any other state capitol across the nation.

Breaking NewsNews from the front lines of our fight for workers rights:

How Different Should Public and Private Pensions Be?

Lee A. Saunders, Wall Street Journal, 01/11/12

FL: We’ll Bet You Dollars to Donuts Rick Scott Doesn’t Get It

John Noonan, AFSCME Greenline, 01/10/12

MI: A rallying cry against privatization in St. Clair

By Jim Bloch, The Voice (Macomb & St. Clair Counties), 01/11/12

IA: Protesters not allowed to hand-deliver letter to Gov. Branstad

Grant Rodgers, Des Moines Register, 01/10/12

Continuing Assault on Unions

Editorial Board, New York Times, 01/07/12

IN: Indiana NFL players lobby against right-to-work

Sports Illustrated, 01/11/12

Iowa GOP Caucus Frontrunners’ Policies Will Hurt Working and Middle Classes

Clyde Weiss, AFSCME Greenline, 01/04/12

FL: Privatize At Thy Own Risk, Manatee

Richard Jackson, Examiner.com, 01/10/12

NY: NY union: Juveniles injure detention center staff

Associated Press, 01/11/12

NH: The Truth About New Hampshire: It’s the Government Spending, Stupid

Michael Mandel, The Atlantic, 01/05/12

Video of the Week

Click here to play Match Game 2012: Presidential Primary Edition We’ve seen all the outrageous comments, one-liners and sniping between candidates. Now let’s see where the candidates stand on issues like public employee unions, child labor and Social Security!

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