Politics

Right to Work for Indiana

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We need to turn Indiana Red!

Right to Work legislation seems to be successfully working its way through the legislature this year.  A much better showing for our State than last year when the Democrat Caucus vacationed in Illinois rather than addressing the issue.

This is important legislation for all Hoosiers.  From my position on the the MCEDC board I have heard that this issue is one of the few deterrents to business location or relocation in Indiana.  This has been promoted by IDEC.  This was also listed as a problem by one of our site selector consultants.  There are many case histories such as the story of Oklahoma here which tell of how a state’s economic fortunes have improved after passage of Right to Work legislation.

With Speaker Bosma supporting it (you can sign a petition here) and Governor Daniels promising to sign it, there is a lot of muscle behind the current push.  It would be a boon to Indiana’s economic development position.

Aside from that, I believe that it is a freedom issue.  I worked in a closed shop factory for 30 days one summer.  It was an eye-opening experience.  I had no interest in joining the union.  In fact I was generally in trouble with the union steward.  The floor manager, who was not union, learned that if he needed some task completed quickly (if it was in my skill set) I would do it.  That was unacceptable to the union members.  I was taking someone else’s job!  I had worked several summers at Easterday Construction before taking that job.  I was taught there that I should do something even if it was wrong.  Easterday Superintendents always told the labor that if you finish a task and don’t know what else to do, pick up a broom and sweep the floor.  Boy, did that ever start a flap when I did that during one of the union’s unscheduled breaks!  That basically got me “blackballed” and I was told that I would not be accepted after my 30 day probation period.  Why would I want to join the union when I didn’t agree with their policies and they didn’t agree with my work ethic?  Why did they have the right to keep me from that job?  If they would have allowed me to remain, why would I want to contribute to their causes with which I didn’t agree?  I should have had the freedom to work there, but I didn’t.

If you want to express your opinion on this, use the link above to vote on Brian Bosma’s page.  This week there is a poll on the Pilot News website.  Currently it is running more than 60% in favor.  There is also information at Halt the Assault website here.  And there is also information on the Indiana Chamber of Commerce website here.  Join me in contacting our legislators to make this Law in Indiana!  I’ve already contacted mine.  If you don’t know who yours is, I’ll help you find them!

Letter from the FBI

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Getting a letter from the FBI is a little like having a police car come up behind you on the highway.  Even when you aren’t doing anything wrong, haven’t done anything wrong and don’t plan to do anything wrong… it makes you nervous.  We received one of those letters today from the FBI talking about potential terrorist activity as we approach the 10th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks.  The letter included a flyer with a list of potential indicators and best practices concerning construction sites.  Most of them are common sense, but the reminders are good.  I’ve scanned the flyer and included it to the right.

It is best we don’t forget, lest it happen again.

Breaking News

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The President has just confirmed that the DC earthquake occurred on a rare and obscure fault-line, apparently known as “Bush’s Fault”.  The President also announced that the Secret Service and Maxine Waters have initiated an investigation into the quake’s suspicious ties to the Tea Party.  Conservatives, however, believe that it was caused by the Founding Fathers rolling over in their graves.

Common Wage Hearing

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This Monday I was asked to serve as ABC’s (Associated Builders and Contractors) representative at a Common Wage Hearing in Warsaw.  The Hearing covered three sewer projects for the City of Warsaw and was held at the Kosciusko County Courthouse.  This is the first Wage Hearing that I have attended since the Law changed on July 1.  As of that date the five member panel no longer includes a representative appointed by the Governor’s Office but now has a member appointed by ABC.  There are a couple of other changes to the Law.  One is that a Wage Hearing is good for any other projects going forward for a period of three months providing that all of the wage classes named in the hearing cover the following projects.  (This should reduce the number of Hearings required).  The second item is a change in the project cost threshold from $150,000 to $250,000.  Unfortunately due to a language error, the $250,000 threshold does not apply until January 1, 2012 and the language error caused all Hearings for the remainder of 2011 to have no threshold, i.e., any project must pay the common wage and have a hearing to set that wage.

Don Scearce

In some ways it was apropos that I took this position as I was filling the shoes of Don Scearce.  Don was a personal friend as well as a business associate for many years.  I worked briefly in his office as a draftsman after college and I have a continuing relationship with his office, Scearce Rudisel Architects, to this day.  Don was a staunch supporter of Merit Shop and served on countless Wage Hearings such as this striving to do the best he could for his community through these Common Wage Hearings.  Unfortunately Don passed away last year.  (Obituary)

The City of Warsaw and Kosciusko County have a long history of supporting ABC wages on their projects.  Of the 231 construction businesses in the County, only three are signatory to unions.   Since 2008 there have been 37 hearings and at 33 hearings the ABC rates were adopted.   This makes the County very pro Merit Shop regardless of whether the companies are affiliated with ABC or not.  The representative for the AFL/CIO brought several documents to present including a folder of affidavits from workers showing their wage rates.  Unfortunately it appeared that many of those workers were not actually working in Kosciusko County though that was the implication.  I also noted a significant number of the ones that I glanced through that were below the rates requested in their submission.  Their submission was also heavy highway rather than providing rates across all classifications.  It was not clear why they did not provide the complete list of rates but had that list been adopted, additional hearings would have been required if another building project came up.

The ABC Wages passed on a vote of 3 to 1 with the chair abstaining.  Even though these projects are outside of our scope of work I still felt good about doing what I could to get the best rates for the City of Warsaw.

While I still believe that the best legislation would be a repeal of the Common Wage requirements, the changes to the new Law helped to promote competition and lower project costs for all of us.  Once the $250,000 threshold is in place that will also help improve the situation  Our Senators and Representatives should be commended for making this change and should be encouraged to continue the trend towards no common wage requirements.