Indiana lawmakers want to bring back the company store

Indiana lawmakers want to take another step toward turning the state into a feudal serfdom with a bill that would restore the company store.

HB 1126 will be heard in committee Wednesday morning. The AFL-CIO tells us the bill would:

• allow employers to charge employees up to $2,500 a year for “purchase” or “use” of uniforms or equipment necessary to do their jobs. 
• allow employers to force their employees to reimburse them for educational or employee skills training required by the employer, even if it is incidental to the work performed and not transferable to other jobs. 
• eliminate long-established penalties on employers who fail to pay their workers what they’ve earned – opening the door to more cases of wage theft in Indiana. 

Anti-worker laws in Indiana (right-to-work-for-less) are already weakening the state's economy. In 2007, Indiana workers earned an average of $1 less than the nation as a whole. Now Indiana is $1 per hour behind the nation in ’07, that gap is now $1.76, according to Morton Marcus, business writer for the NWI Times. He points Hoosiers now make $38.75 a week less than the nation, with the wage gap increasing to $58.99 per week in December 2013 from $20.74 in December 2013.

Somehow we don't think debt slavery is going to improve Indiana's economy.