Ten thousand attend protest at Indiana statehouse

[Hannah Bell]

Some 10,000 workers gathered outside the Indiana Statehouse in Indianapolis Thursday in a rally called by area unions to protest Republican-sponsored legislation attacking public sector collective bargaining and public education.

While the protest, titled “We Are Indiana,” was one of the largest in over a decade, the turnout was far smaller than the record 20-30,000 predicted by union officials. The crowd included a delegation from Wisconsin who came to show solidarity with workers in Indiana. Also taking part were teachers, hotel workers, steel workers, state workers and building trades workers. A delegation from the National Football League Players Association also participated.

The state capitol has been the scene of daily protests for the past three weeks against legislation pending in the Indiana General Assembly that would limit collective bargaining by teachers to wage-related issues and a bill that would exempt projects of less than $1,000,000 from the state’s common construction wage, which sets minimum pay based on area wages.

Another proposed measure would institute a school voucher system allowing public funds to be spent for private education. Republicans say they have now dropped plans to enact right-to-work legislation, banning the collection of union dues from workers covered by a collective bargaining agreement who are not union members, in the current session.

http://www.wsws.org/articles/2011/mar2011/indy-m11.shtml