Democrats walk out on workers

Imagine that for five weeks, you decide not to go to work to protest what your co-workers are doing.  You expect to not only keep your job, but still earn your paycheck.  When you are faced with financial penalties for skipping work, you are both surprised and upset.

But that would never happen, right?  In case you weren't paying much attention last spring, this situation played out at the Indiana Statehouse.  One day, the Democrat representatives didn't show up to session.  No one thought too much of it, as they claimed to be caucusing (which happens all the time).  

But gossip goes around the Statehouse pretty quickly, and word got out that some of them had run off to Illinois.  Everyone was pretty much dumbfounded.  The disbelief only increased with each passing week.  

Finally, five weeks later, with almost no changes in the stance of the Republican representatives, the Democrat representatives returned.  They were fined fairly heavily and fought the fines as much as they could.  But session moved on, and even with the five-week pause, no major legislation was delayed.  Perhaps legislation did not get as much careful consideration as it might otherwise, with session shortened by five weeks—session which can only last until April 29 by law.

The legislation that sparked the Democrat walkout was an introduced Right-to-Work bill that passed out of committee.  The bill was referred to a summer study committee in an effort by the Democrat epresentatives to claim they had won something with their walkout.  While not killing the bill outright, it delayed consideration of the bill for at least another year.  Well, the Right-to-Work bill was considered by the summer study committee who decided to advance the proposal at the end of October.  Legislators in both chambers have indicated that they will propose Right-to-Work legislation in the coming session.

Since the issue that caused the Democrats to flee to Illinois the first time will almost definitely be coming up again, one wonders what they'll do this time.  Fines for leaving were added in the last session, so camping out in Illinois could have much more drastic financial implications than last year.  The most any legislator was fined per day was $350 by the end of five weeks, but the new law would automatically fine them $1,000 each day.  

But if the issue is the same, how can the Democrats justify not walking out this time while still maintaining that they "did it for working Hoosiers" last year?  They claimed to have been forced by Republicans to walk out in an effort to "save the middle class," but with a shorter session and increased penalties, that option looks less attractive.

Under current law, workers at jobs with a union are forced to pay union dues.  Even if they do not see any benefit or disagree with the way the union spends its money (such as supporting Democrats who have exiled themselves to another state)—they cannot opt out of paying those dues.  While this sounds like an infringement on individual freedom, it may also have economic impacts as well.  Many businesses will refuse to relocate in a state that isn't Right-to-Work.  

A recent publication by Site Selection magazine identified the top ten states with the best business climate.  Of those top ten, eight are Right-to-Work states—Indiana ranked 6th. 

Unemployment rates are of high concern, so why wouldn't we want to attract as many jobs as possible?  

Perhaps instead of "saving the middle class," Democrats should focus on putting them back to work.