Oklahoma workers join House protest

INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) - There are new voices in the right to work debate at the Statehouse. Union members in Indiana who say that right to work would lead to lower paying jobs and do nothing to attract new jobs today turned to some union members from Oklahoma for support.

Oklahoma was the last the state to adopt a right to work law. That was 10 years ago and the president of the Oklahoma Chamber of Commerce testified last week that it had a "dramatic" effect on the economy there.

Two union members from Oklahoma City were here this morning with a different message.

"We were just brought down to the middle of a room and told that we were losing our jobs as a result of right to work," said Kitti Asberry, who lost her job at a GM plant.

"There is no anecdotal or empirical evidence that right to work has benefitted Oklahoma's economy in any way," said Jesse Isbell, a former worker at a Bridgestone/Firestone plant. "The truth is it has driven down wages."

If Indiana adopts right to work it would become the 23rd state in the country to do so.

Republicans still hope to pass a right to work bill out of the Indiana House yet this week. A continuing Democratic walkout would be designed to slow down that process.