Just And Fair Compensation

Article I, Section 21 of the Indiana State Constitution reads as follows:

Section 21. No person's particular services shall be demanded, without just compensation. No person's property shall be taken by law, without just compensation; nor, except in case of the State, without such compensation first assessed and tendered.

(History: As Amended November 6, 1984).

What does that mean?

It means that you have the right to compensation for your services. It means no one can force you to provide a service for no compensation.

And it's in the state constitution, which means it cannot be changed by simple legislative vote.

Why is this important?

Because for the second time, a County Judge has STRUCK DOWN Indiana's so-called "right to work" law as UNCONSTITUTIONAL based on this clause.

Lake County Circuit Court Judge George Paras determined the law violates the state constitution by forcing unions to provide services to workers without payment. He wrote in his July 17 ruling that the law was immediately "null and void". Paras determined that the state interjected itself into a federal requirement that unions represent all workers -- whether they pay union fees or not -- when it established criminal penalties for violating the right-to-work law.

Lake County Superior Court Judge John Sedia judge struck down the law last fall in a separate case, but stayed it from taking effect. That case is now being considered by the Indiana Supreme Court.

So how do we combat Right to Starve? We first get "Just Compensation" language into state constitutions. It's a good Conservative principle. You can even use the backdrop of business owners to do it.

Once Just Compensation is in the Constitution--making sure there are no loopholes--then you go after Right to Starve.

After all, Unions are providing a service--bargaining, representation, etc, and the employees are seeing benefits of that service in terms of wages and benefits. And under Just Compensation, they are entitled to their agency or fair-share fees from non-members as compensation for providing those services.

And because the right to collectively bargain is Federal Law, there is no state where this cannot be tried.

It's just a thought, and the Indiana Supreme Court has yet to rule. And as we've seen in the Vergara case, partisan hackery does not always recognize the law, especially if the reality of the law doesn't fit the political views they hold.