The Monthly Membership Meeting will be held Saturday February 11, 2012. The meeting will be held at 45 Sardis Rd Asheville, NC 28806 beginning at 10:00 am.

All members are encouraged to attend.

FLASHBACK: Indiana’s Last ‘Right-To-Work’ Law Failed So Badly It Was Repealed Eight Years Later

By Travis Waldron

Workers protest outside Indiana's capitol today

Indiana Republicans passed their anti-union “right-to-work” bill this morning, and Gov. Mitch Daniels (R) signed the bill this afternoon, officially making his state the 23rd to adopt such a law. Despite the bill’s widespread opposition from Democrats and labor groups, Republicans claim they have broad support across the Hoosier State and that the new law will increase the state’s attractiveness to businesses.

If the GOP had studied the state’s history, however, it might feel differently. Indiana Republicans passed a similar right-to-work law in 1957 over the objections of Democrats, labor leaders, and workers, and the law proved so unpopular that it lasted only eight years, as the Evansville Courier Press noted in November:

However, the new law was so unpopular that many Republicans were turned out at the polls in 1958. By the 1960s, Democrats controlled both chambers of the General Assembly and the governor’s office. And in 1965, they repealed the right-to-work law.

The events surrounding Indiana’s previous attempt at right-to-work bear an eerie resemblance to Indiana’s current efforts. Time Magazine, in its March 11, 1957 issue, reported that “some 7,500 wrought-up Indianans marched into the Statehouse in Indianapolis last week to protest against a ‘right-to-work’ bill,” which then-Gov. Harold W. Hanley (R) allowed to become law even though he “disliked the bill himself.” Last week, more than 10,000 workers marched through Indianapolis, and thousands have rallied at the state capitol this week. Current Indiana Gov. Daniels will sign the law despite previously saying that he though such a law would spark a “civil war” in the state.

And just like Indiana Republicans were hammered at the polls in 1958, Republicans in other states have faced public rebuke for attacking unions. Wisconsin’s anti-union legislation passed in 2011 led to recall elections for six Republican state senators (two lost), and Gov. Scott Walker (R). And while Indiana’s right-to-work bill lasted eight years, anti-union legislation signed by Ohio Gov. John Kasich (R) was defeated at the polls by Ohioans less than a year after it became law.

Indiana Democrats made a similar effort to put right-to-work up to a referendum, a decision that, according to the Teamsters union, was supported by 71 percent of state voters. But Republicans, perhaps realizing that such a plan might lead to an ugly repeat of history, blocked those attempts. With studies showing that right-to-work is bad for workers and won’t actually help Indiana, however, Hoosiers may be yearning for a repeat of 1965 sooner rather than later.

Teamsters, safety advocates oppose higher truck weight limit bill

• By David Shepardson
• Detroit News Washington Bureau

Washington— Auto safety advocates, members of Congress and the head of the 1.4-million member International Brotherhood of Teamsters union said Wednesday they oppose a GOP plan to allow much heavier trucks on the nation's roads.

The House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee is considering the legislation, which is sponsored by Rep. John Mica, R-Fla., the committee chair.

It would raise maximum truck weights by more than eight tons and would overturn restrictions that ban triple trailer trucks and other longer combination vehicles on most U.S. highways. It also would impose exemptions on hours-of-service regulations, Occupational Safety and Health Administration rules and Hazmat training requirements.

Sen. Frank Lautenberg, D-N.J., opposed the effort. "It's a menace on the highways — one we don't need," Lautenberg said.

"Heavier and longer trucks mean greater stopping distances and shorter reaction times. This legislation is treacherous to the driving public," said Teamsters President Jim Hoffa, who called it a "recipe for danger and disaster. This legislation is a reckless giveaway to the trucking industry, and corporate greed is at the wheel. The driving public absolutely does not support these radical changes that will endanger our highways. This overhaul will not create jobs. It will damage our roads and bridges, costing taxpayers. It will put lives at risk."

John Runyan, executive director of the Coalition for Transportation Productivity, a group supporting the higher limits, said the bill "gives states the ability to open all, or portions of, their interstate networks to more productive, single-trailer trucks equipped with six axles rather than the typical five."

He said the new limit of 97,000 pounds would be safe. "The provision enables shippers to safely utilize wasted truck space that remains empty at the current 80,000-pound federal weight limit," Runyan said. "There is substantial evidence this truck weight proposal will save lives by enabling companies to reduce the vehicle miles traveled to deliver their goods and products."

He noted that more than 40 states already employ higher weight limits on state roads. He also noted that since the United Kingdom raised its gross vehicle weight limit to 97,000 pounds for six-axle vehicles in 2001, fatal truck-related accident rates have declined by 35 percent.

Former National Highway Traffic Safety Administrator Joan Claybrook, a former head of Public Citizen, noted that in the United States in 2010 there was a 9 percent increase in truck deaths.

Republicans "are very determined to give the trucking industry this long wish list," Claybrook said "This wish list is most assuredly a death list for the American public."

dshepardson@detnews.com