Indiana AFL-CIO launches '1-stop shop' website to educate, organize Hoosier workers
Increased visibility from a confluence of strikes across the country is driving interest and awareness about unions — the Writers’ Guild of America and SAG-AFTRA strikes in Los Angeles, United Auto Workers preparing to strike, and UPS Teamsters narrowly avoiding a work stoppage with contract ratification — are leading a movement colloquially referred to as “hot labor summer.”
Drawing off that energy as Labor Day approaches, Indiana State AFL-CIO is launching its new online organizing platform called Hoosier Union Friday, the organization exclusively told IndyStar.
President Brett Voorhies envisions the platform as a “one-stop shop” for information about joining or forming a union in Indiana at a time when union popularity is on the rise. A recent poll found that 71% of Americans support labor unions, with that number rising even higher to 88% for Americans under 30.
That overwhelming support doesn’t match up with union membership, though. In 2022, just 7.4% of Indiana workers were in a union, compared to a national average of 10.1% — both historic lows. Part of that is because of Indiana's identity as a “right to work state,” meaning employers and labor organizations can't require individuals to become dues-paying union members as a condition of employment.
Voorhies hopes Hoosier Union can both increase those numbers and help make organizing easier in a state that's not the most union-friendly. The website includes a history of the labor movement in the U.S. and information about joining an existing local union, as well as resources and a Google Form for unorganized workers looking to unionize their workplaces.
“The main goal, at the end of the day, is that if you're an unorganized worker, and you want to know about a union or join a union or whatever the case may be, we want to make sure they all know where to go,” said Voorhies.
Petra Jameson, an organizer with the United Auto Workers (UAW), told IndyStar she often hears misconceptions among workers about unions, like that forming a union means automatically going on strike. Jameson hopes Hoosier Union will be a place where workers can access straightforward, accurate information about unionizing discreetly and without fear of retribution from their employer.
“People lose their fear once they have the information,” Jameson said. “So anytime that you can give them knowledge, it empowers the employees to move forward.”
Expanding union opportunity
For Voorhies, it’s not just the hotter spotlight put on unions across the country during the summer of strikes that’s driving momentum around the labor movement.
It’s also the huge number of economic development projects and construction in the pipeline across Indianapolis and the state writ large — the LEAP District in Lebanon is just the tip of the iceberg — that will provide an opportunity to not only employ unionized workers in construction, but to engage and organize facilities once they’re up and running.
“There's a lot of new sectors coming in,” Voorhies said. “I want to make sure that they can't find it on the internet about who to go to … They can go to HoosierUnion.com and talk to our folk and figure it out for themselves.”
Jane Phillips, a representative for the Communications Workers of America, said she hopes Hoosier Union will drive interest about unions for all workers, regardless of job title or employer.
“It doesn't matter what trade or line of work you're in,” said Phillips. “The union has a place for anyone. We don't want you to be replaced by automation.”
Got a tip about the labor movement in Indiana? Contact business reporter Claire Rafford at crafford@gannett.com or 317-617-3402.
This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: Indiana AFL-CIO launches website to organize workers
