INDIANAPOLIS | Gov. Mitch Daniels will sign right-to-work into law if the labor policy is approved next year by the Indiana General Assembly.
The Republican governor on Thursday said it is "irresponsible," given the state's 9 percent unemployment rate and the weak national economy, for Indiana to not do everything it can to create jobs for Hoosiers, including enacting a right-to-work law.
"We just can't be satisfied with where we are; we need thousands of jobs we don't have," Daniels said.
He said some companies refuse to consider locating in Indiana without a right-to-work law, even after he highlights the state's low corporate taxes and business-friendly regulations and despite top rankings from corporate leaders as a great state to do business in.
"I've argued with businesses to look at the whole picture, look at all the advantages. There's a reason Indiana is fourth, fifth, sixth on these rankings," Daniels said. "But for some companies or whoever is advising them this is just on the filter."
Under a right-to-work law, non-union employees at a union workplace are not required to pay for union-provided services.
Labor leaders claim studies show right-to-work is intended to destroy unions, does not create new jobs, drives down wages for union and non-union workers and imperils worker safety.
Daniels said his review of the issue found those arguments "don't hold up."
"The vital right to organize is totally unaffected; every right-to-work state has significant union presence, and some have higher rates of unionization than Indiana does," Daniels said. "Right-to-work states have, if anything, better rates of worker safety."
The leaders of the Republican majorities in the Indiana House and Senate have said enacting right-to-work is their top legislative priority when the General Assembly convenes in January.
An attempt to pass the labor policy last session led in part to a five-week walkout by House Democrats that shut down the Legislature.