Right-to-Work Now Law in Indiana

As promised, with the stroke of a pen, Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels made his state the 23rd in the nation — and the only one in the Rust Belt — with a “right to work” law on its books. The new law allows workers to avoid paying union dues, even if the workplace has a union contract. Daniels said the law would help attract business and jobs to Indiana. “This law won’t be a magic answer, but we’ll be far better off with it,” Daniels said in a statement.

A 1998 study by economist Thomas Holmes of the University of Minnesota found that manufacturing job growth was greater in counties with right-to-work laws compared with adjacent counties in neighboring states with no such laws. But because right-to-work states typically embrace a variety of corporate-friendly policies — like lower taxes, greater subsidies and softer environmental regulations — Holmes had trouble isolating the true effect of the right-to-work laws by themselves.