In 2004, candidate Mitch Daniels told an Indiana labor union (pdf) that he saw no need for anti-union Right to Work bill. In 2006, Governor Daniels said the state didn’t need the civil war that a Right to Work bill would start, that Indiana could compete for jobs just fine (video below). In 2011, Governor Daniels tried to wave Republicans off attempting to pass a union-stripping bill. Then in 2012, Governor Daniels decided he supported the bill, actively campaigning for it.
What changed? Governor Daniels has said the state is losing out because it hasn’t got a Right to Work law — that’s in the ad above. He has tried to make that case even though the evidence suggests there is no particular correlation between having a Right to Work law and jobs lost or gained. Battered by the recession, Indiana’s economy has been getting better. This week, the federal government ranked Indiana second in the nation for jobs gained last month, with 15,100.
Today, with the Indiana Senate having already passed its version of the bill, the Indiana House approved Right to Work by 55-44, becoming the 23rd state in the nation to effectively ban union shops. Now it looks like the Senate will approve the House version, and the whole thing is over before the union members of the NFL show up for the Super Bowl on February 5.
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