Anti-Union Media

Thursday, January 5, 2006

'Right to Work': for a union . . .

By D. Eric Schansberg
Special to The Courier-Journal

Labor unions continue to be in the news sporadically. This summer's 50th anniversary of the AFL-CIO merger was ironically paired with a maverick union group's decision to break from the pack (the "Change to Win Coalition"). Then, just in time for Christmas, unionized transit workers in New York City hamstrung the Big Apple by going on strike.

Locally, in recent weeks, Gov. Mitch Daniels cited Indiana's "closed shop" laws as a significant reason behind Colgate's decision to leave Southern Indiana. And "right-to-work" bills have been introduced in both Kentucky and Indiana -- "open shop" laws that would allow workers to join a firm that has union representation without being forced to join the union and pay dues.

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