Catching up on some state-level news I missed last week, an Indiana judge has thrown out a union’s effort to get the court’s to throw out the state’s new right-to-work law. According to the Indianapolis Star:
The plaintiffs, Local 150 of the International Union of Operating Engineers, claimed the law, which bars companies and unions from negotiating contracts that require all employees to pay for representation, violated the constitution.
The law’s passage by the General Assembly in February 2012 was a major milestone in what has become a national tug of war over union rights.
Indiana became the first state in the industrial Midwest to put such a measure on the books. By December, Michigan had followed suit.
In Indiana, the law was enacted only after a heated battle that made lawsuits almost inevitable. Democratic lawmakers staged a walkout to try and stop it. Union members flooded the capital grounds for large protests and even staged a parade through the streets of Indianapolis in the week leading up to the Super Bowl.
In the end the political fight failed, and now opponents have a judicial setback, too.
The union will consider an appeal, spokesman Ed Maher told the Associated Press.
