Indiana Governor Mitch "Darth Vader" Daniels and the right to (not) work

Governor Mitch Daniels, channeling Darth Vader during his GOP response to the President's State of the Union speech on Tuesday night and the Republican dominated legislature have passed the last hurdle before Indiana becomes a so-called "right-to-work state. Daniels, mumbling his way through a sour-faced speech filled with apocalyptic images of doom and gloom unless President Obama was defeated, led his tea party clones in attempting to destroy the rights of working men and women of Indiana to unionize or collectively bargain. Sadly for many workers this means the right to not work for decent wages, benefits with dignity, or have any access to rights guaranteed them under federal legislation - the National Labor Relations Act - of some 75 years duration. It is now up to workers, unions and all progressive forces in Indiana to organize to repeal this horrible precedent and to retire Darth Vader Daniels from the Governor's desk - where he apparently now feels stifled. Daniels -an earlier critic of Scott Walker - for being unnecessarily harsh and divisive to state workers - has recently - while dreaming of the VP spot on a Gingromney Presidential ticket, drunk the Koch brothers kool-aid tea and decided to make the lives of working folks even more difficult than they have become after so many years of high unemployment and no manufacturing jobs. Another general recall election effort seems in order here as well as in Wisconsin. The success in Ohio against Kasich's power grab has shown the way organized progressive forces can slam these anti-worker slime back into the sewers from whence they came. We wish Indiana workers strength and courage in their noble fight.

See what the Huffington Post has to say:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/01/25/indiana-right-to-work_n_1232070.html

Daniels efforts in Indiana today recalled the events in Wisconsin earlier this year, when Scott Walker, an unknown hack who lied his way into the Governors mansion, ignored any semblance of democracy, fair play or even the will of the people - while ramming through the first set of anti-union laws in the country. Years of spending by 1% types like the Koch brothers, in their efforts to buy off and control politicians just like Walker - who was caught on tape in a radio sting sucking up to who he imagined was one of his corporate benefactors - finally paid off in a Republican led power play to dump the troubles of the state's hard economy onthe backs of public employees earning roughly $47,000 a year - instead of on the billions of $ in tax breaks handed out to right wing corporations the moment Walker took office.

"Despite massive protests outside the Capitol, Wisconsin's GOP-dominated Assembly passed a law backed by Gov. Scott Walker in March that strips nearly all collective bargaining rights from organized labor. Walker is now preparing for a recall election after opponents turned in a million signatures aimed at forcing a vote and ousting him from office. In November, Ohio voters repealed a law limiting collective bargaining rights that was championed by Gov. John Kasich and fellow Republican lawmakers."

See the full article at:

http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2012/01/25/us/AP-US-Indiana-Right-to-Work.html?_r=1&ref=us

You may need to get a free subscription for the NY Times on-line to access this article. But it's worth it. If the people of Ohio can repeal a law that is unfair to workers and their rights, so too can the people of Wisconsin. Collective bargaining is a right, not a privilege.