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A Lake County Superior Court judge has ruled the law violates the state constitution.

State Plans to Appeal Right-to-Work Ruling

Judge John Sedia has ruled the law violates the section of the state constitution that does not allow services "without just compensation."

A key aspect of the law calls on unions to represent workers even if they opt out of paying dues.

You can view the decision by clicking here.

The challenge was launched by the International Union of Operating Engineers Local 150, which is headquartered in Illinois and has Indiana offices in Lakeville and Merrillville.

The Office of the Indiana Attorney General says the status quo will remain in effect as the case is being appealed.

Source: Lake County Superior Court, Office of the Indiana Attorney General

Statement from Bryan Corbin, PIO, Office of the Indiana Attorney General

The State will take an immediate appeal to the Indiana Supreme Court of this declaratory judgment which we contend is incorrect, in light of the fact the same court granted the State’s motion to dismiss on four other counts. The Indiana Attorney General’s Office will aggressively defend the authority of the people’s elected representatives in the Legislature as we successfully defended this same statute from the same plaintiff who challenged it in federal court.

Source: Office of the Indiana Attorney General

Statement from the International Union of Operating Engineers Local 150

In a decision issued today in the Local 150's lawsuit against Indiana's right to work law, Judge John M. Sedia of Indiana’s Lake Superior Court entered declaratory judgments ruling the law unconstitutional.
Local 150’s lawsuit claimed that the law was a violation Article 1, Section 21 of Indiana’s Constitution, which states that, “No person's particular services shall be demanded, without just compensation.” Local 150 argued that Indiana’s right to work law is unconstitutional because it makes it illegal for unions to collect fees for services that they are federally required to provide.

In his decision, Judge Sedia states that under Indiana’s right to work law, “it becomes a criminal offense for a union to receive just compensation for particular servic?es federal law demands it provide to employees.” Judge Sedia concluded that, “the Court therefore has no choice but to find that [the laws] violate Article 1, Section 21 of the Indiana Constitution.”

“This is a huge victory for the middle class,” said Local 150 president-business manager James M. Sweeney. “These laws are nothing but thinly-veiled tools to weaken unions, and this is a big win for workers who rely on unions to provide decent wages and benefits. We pledged on the day that this law was passed that they hadn’t seen the last of us, and we are delighted with this ruling.”

Indiana Supreme Court rule 4(a)(1)(b) gives exclusive jurisdiction to the Supreme Court for appeals for final judgments declaring a state statute in whole or in part unconstitutional. The judgment is subject to mandatory review within 30 days.

Source: International Union of Operating Engineers Local 150

Approximately 150 Members from Teamster Local 142 gathered on Sunday April 28, 2013 to participate in CSA 2010 training.  The members learned valuable information that will help them continue to be safe and professional drivers.  The training focused on how the regulations affect the Teamster driver. Violations under this new federal rule may follow you from workplace to workplace. The training gave the members the tools they need to protect their driving record and potential future employment as a driver.  Secretary-Treasurer Richard Knipp said “anytime we can get training to help us continue to be safe and to be professionals on the jobs that we do it is a good thing.  The turnout today shows that Teamster Local 142 drivers want to be safe and professional drivers and continue to provide safe and quality services to the Employers and their costumers .”

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Sequestration Leads Indiana to Halt Emergency Unemployment Compensation

Looming budget cuts known as sequestration will reduce federal unemployment compensation for the long-term jobless by roughly 10 percent.

But the state government of Indiana feels that it has not received proper guidance from the U.S. Department of Labor on how to implement the cuts, so it is going to suspend the federal long-term unemployment benefits altogether in the state. Call it a case of premature sequestration.

"Due to federal automatic spending cuts as part of sequestration, payments of federally extended unemployment insurance benefits will be temporarily suspended on Saturday, March 2, 2013 until further guidance from the federal government is received," the Indiana Department of Workforce Developmentannounced on Wednesday.

Department spokesman Joe Frank said the agency would rather give jobless workers advance warning of the benefits lapse now than overpay them and have to take back the money later.

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On Sunday January 27th 60 Teamsters Local Stewards and members gathered at the union hall for the Quarterly seminar.

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