Students will have the opportunity to attend a panel discussion on the issue of Indiana labor unions and the Right-to-Work bill that was signed into law Feb. 1.
The discussion will take place Wednesday night in Pruis Hall from 7 p.m. to 9p.m.
Melinda Messineo, Chairperson of the Department of Sociology, described the upcoming panel as it pertains to this year's Freshman Common Reader.
"['Where am I Wearing'] is about how individuals and businesses make choices to keep jobs in the United States or send them elsewhere," Messineo said. "Rules about labor and unions determine whether a company stays here or not."
Messineo explained that the panel will include business owners, union members and members of the community that will explain the Right-to-Work bill's impact on Indiana's ability to invite and retain jobs.
The Right-to-Work bill, according to the Indiana state department, prohibits any employer to "require an individual to become or remain a member of a labor organization, or pay dues, fees or assessments, as a condition of employment, new or continued."
"Right to work has been passed by more than half the state," said Michael Hicks, director of the Center for Business and Economic Research.
He later explained that the Right-to-Work bill probably would not affect a college student's choice to join a union.
"A number of studies showed that [RTW] has very little effect on union participation in part because [private sector union participation] has been declining," he said.
This is not to say that students should not pay attention to this issue, however, public sector unions are more likely to be of interest to college students because they have led to very heavy debt which falls on the tax payer, Hick said.
The Right-to-Work legislation has become a current issue due to the current presidential administration.
"When a union wishes to change legislature, they must have an open vote that allows a secret vote to be initialized," Hicks said.
Those in favor of the new union legislation can then "strong arm" the union members to vote to initialize the secret ballot, he said.
The secret ballot, as defined by Hicks, is a safe guard that disallows the union supervisors the ability to effect union member's votes on a given issue.
What this new legislation would do is take away the secret ballot and in turn make it a public vote, the same as the original vote, which could then allow "a formerly secret election to be subject to the same strong arm techniques," which could "vastly change union procedure."
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