INDIANAPOLIS | The fight over the Indiana right-to-work law declared constitutional by the state Supreme Court on Thursday may be headed to the nation’s highest court.
James Sweeney, president of the International Union of Operating Engineers, Local 150, said he is reviewing all options for continuing his union’s challenge to the controversial 2012 labor law.
“Because (Thursday’s) decision is based on what we firmly believe to be a misinterpretation of federal law, we will consider petitioning the United States Supreme Court to hear this case,” Sweeney said.
“Unions have historically been compensated for (their) services. The Indiana right-to-work law takes that compensation away,” Pierson said. “Far from simply ensuring that union membership is entirely voluntary, the state specifically passed its right-to-work law hoping to benefit by this taking.”
The Hoosier justices were unpersuaded by that argument, noting in their 5-0 decision that if unions don’t want to be forced to represent members and nonmembers alike they can form a “members-only” union. [Emphasis added]