Union vs Indiana: Lawsuit Claims 'Right-to-Work' Law Violates Anti-Slavery Amendment

A labor union has amended its lawsuit against the state of Indiana to include that along with being a violation of the Fourteenth Amendment (equal protection), the state’s recently passed “right-to-work” law also turns union workers into slaves.

“In a lawsuit against three Indiana government officials, a labor union alleged on Wednesday that its constitutional rights under the Thirteenth Amendment -- which outlawed ‘slavery’ and ‘involuntary servitude’ -- are violated whenever its members are forced to work alongside nonunion employees,” the Daily Caller’s David Martosko reports.

Yes. The lawsuit argues that being forced to work alongside “scabs” (i.e. non-union employees) is pretty much the same thing as slavery.

“The International Union of Operating Engineers, whose members work as heavy equipment operators, mechanics and construction surveyors, sued Indiana’s governor [Mitch Daniels], attorney general, and labor commissioner in February,” Martosko reports.

The February lawsuit claimed that Indiana's “right-to-work” law was "unconstitutional" because it was a violation of the Fourteenth Amendment guarantee of “equal protection” under the law.

“But an amended complaint filed [last] Wednesday added a Thirteenth Amendment claim as well,” the Daily Caller reports.

“The new lawsuit suggests that when nonunion employees earn higher salaries and better benefits because of the union’s negotiation on behalf of its members, the union has been forced to work for those nonunion employees for free,” the report adds.

Again, just to make sure we’re clear on what’s being argued here: the union lawsuit claims Indiana’s “right-to-work” law violates the Thirteenth Amendment because union workers are "forced to work without compensation," therefore making them slaves.

Gov. Mitch Daniels (R-IN)

“In this case, the Defendants have exacted compulsory service and/or involuntary servitude from the Union through the combination of the passage of the Right to Work law and the existing federal requirement of the duty of fair representation,” the amended complaint reads.

“Through these laws, the Union is compelled to furnish services to all persons in bargaining units that it represents, but it may not require payment for those services because of the Right to Work law. The statute also requires dues-paying union members to work alongside non-union personnel, and that is compulsory service and/or involuntary servitude within the meaning of the Thirteenth Amendment,” the complaint adds.

Indiana is the 23rd U.S. state to pass a “right-to-work” law.

See Page 26: Read the union’s “slavery” lawsuit against Indiana’s right-to-work law (via the Daily Caller):