Union busting in Indiana

>>> well, it's already happened in wisconsin and ohio, and now republican governor mitch daniels in indiana has his eye on killing unions in that state. what stands between daniels and his goal? well, about 40 democratic lawmakers. it's the same old story. the latest story out of the hoosier state is part of a nationwide effort to attack workers, weaken unions, and ultimately put a republican in the white house . mitch daniels and republican state lawmakers are doing their part by making so-called right to work legislation a top priority. currently 22 states have right to work laws. these laws prohibit businesses and unions from requiring workers to pay dues to a union. now, a right to work bill was introduced last year but stalled as democrats fled the state for five weeks. yesterday was supposed to be the first day of a new legislative session. instead the democratic minority managed to stall business once again by staying away from the house floor. and today they did it again. here's the report from wthr.

>> for the second consecutive day now democrats in the house of representatives have prevented a quorum call on the floor of the house . speaker brian bosma tried to convene lawmakers for business twice today but to no avail. it takes 67 members to conduct business on the floor of the house and only 64 will showing up. some democrats did show up for various committees but once again, not enough to conduct business.

>> joining me now is pat bauer , indiana house democratic leader . mr. bauer, good to have you with us tonight. how long --

>> hi, ed.

>> you bet. how long can you keep this up? i mean, will you continue to stall this until people put pressure on lawmakers, telling them they're doing the wrong thing? what's the game plan here?

>> we can only try, ed, one day longer, one day stronger. but there's a lot of pressure on my members. they manage to do it for five weeks. but that cost them quite a bit in fines and other trouble. but we've had a time for the people to learn about our right to work. but at least still 50% don't understand it. but the way their schedule is now they want to ram it through the house in one short week and do likewise in the senate, and that's for a controversial bill like this that's probably not only unprecedented but it sure shows they're afraid of public -- the public getting to know what right to work stands for. less pay and less workplace safety and maybe no health care .

>> okay. where do you think the people of indiana stand on this? i mean, have there been any measurements taken, any polls out there? do you have a good grip on where the public is in your state?

>> the most impartial poll by ball state university showed that 50% of the people don't even know what right to work is and once they learn about it most of them are against it. but that's why we want to have time so the people can understand what will happen --

>> so --

>> it will make indiana one of the least attractive places to have jobs in the country. we're now the fifth most attractive in the country.

>> sure.

>> and they want to make us like mississippi, which is the 50th least attractive.

>> i mean, that's very telling. half the people in your state don't even know what right to work means, although you've got a bunch of lawmakers who think that they just absolutely have to have it that way.

>> yes, sir.

>> would you call for a full walkout? are you willing to do that?

>> well, that's very difficult to do. i think what we have to do is try to slow down the process and continue to try to draw attention to what the bill is. and that's what we're doing. and find other ways to bring the public involved. we are going to have voluntary local hearings on our own because we asked them to have hearings around the state and they refused. they are on this very fast track. so we're going to have our own this weekend to try to do it on our own.

>> okay. what is happening around the country i think is that you have got all these right to work legislation laws being put up, proposed in many of these states. they're just trying to deplete the infrastructure of all of the unions, deplete their funds, and of course hurt the democratic infrastructure. and of course it will deplete wages as time goes on. pat bauer --

>> the rich get richer.

>> you know it. thanks, mr. bauer. appreciate your time. that's