During the General Assembly's debate of the toll road sale, there were numerous rallies held to voice support for the privatization scheme. I remember walking in one morning, only to discover that the buses outside had delivered hundreds of union members from across the state. They were there to support what they saw as the perfect opportunity to expand job opportunities in the state, but something just didn't add up.
This was the same Governor who had on his first day disbanded the state employee union. This was the Governor who lent his support to "right to work" legislation. This was a Governor who was no friend of unions.
But alas, an unholy bond was formed, and the GOP-controlled House and Senate passed the proposal by a narrow margin. Thus was to begin the golden age of union-led projects throughout the state. Only, the unions are discovering that the Governor's unconditional love only went so far as until the votes were cast:
Unions that were among the greatest supporters of Gov. Mitch Daniels' drive to privatize the Indiana Toll Road now fear construction jobs there may be going to nonunion workers from other countries.
"We are very concerned," said Jim Strayer, business manager for the Northwest Indiana Building and Construction Trades Council. "We are not getting the share of the work that we did before."
Specifically, the Trades Council wants an American-Spanish joint venture undertaking a $250 million lane-widening project to sign on to a project labor agreement, which would require the use of union labor.
More broadly, unions fear the Toll Road someday becoming a union-free work zone.
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