The War on Workers is the new civil war of our age, according to Patrick Bauer, the Democratic Minority Leader in the Indiana Assembly.
When extremists in the Indiana Legislature tried to pass right-to-work legislation to destroy unions -- along with a host of other anti-middle-class bills -- Assembly Democrats left the state for 34 days to prevent a vote. Bauer negotiated a compromise in which right-to-work was taken off the table.
Bauer spoke at the 28th International Brotherhood of Teamsters Convention, and he thanked our Hoosier brothers and sisters for organizing protests in Indianapolis during the stand-off.
This is our civil war. This is a war we have to fight. This is a war we have to win or the middle class is gone in this country. You know it and I know it.Bauer was in the news recently, talking to Talking Points Memo about the debt negotiations.
And the Teamsters, we are so proud. We’re so proud of the Bartons, the Buhls, the Warnocks. Those are the people that organized and helped organize 30,000 people, 30,000 people in Indianapolis —
(Applause)
— 30,000 people in downtown Indianapolis to fight back against this tyranny. And with you, we’re going to win. They’re taking away women’s health care in Indiana; it’s made national news. The federal government has stopped it. They’re taking away workers’ rights; we helped stop it. You, me, we together helped stop that. And we will win this by sticking together, by every day reminding people that our standard of living is at stake, our families’ welfare is at stake; in fact, the dream of the United States is at stake.
Bauer said Obama should push the GOP the same way he and his Democratic House colleagues pushed Daniels and the Republicans who tried to turn Indiana into a right-to-work state after what he called the 2010 "tsunami" election.
"If they want to shut the government down, let 'em," Bauer said of the Republicans. "The GOP will be the biggest losers in the end."
