Washington, D.C. – Today, anti-worker politicians in the Indiana state legislature succeeded in ramming through so-called right-to-work legislation by a vote of 28 to 22. In response, American Rights at Work Executive Director Kimberly Freeman Brown issued the following statement:

"In 1961, Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. warned the country that right-to-work 'provides no rights and no work. Its purpose is to destroy labor unions and the freedom of collective bargaining.'  With mounting evidence pointing to the detrimental impact of these laws on everyday Americans, his words continue to ring true five decades later. But today in Indiana, corporate-backed politicians made it clear that they're not concerned with the facts—or with listening to their constituents.

"In addition to driving down the wages of an average worker by over $5,000 a year, right-to-work laws do not improve a state's overall business climate. In fact, eight of the 12 states with the highest unemployment rates are right-to-work states, and the two states that led the country in construction job losses in the fall of 2011 have right-to-work laws on the books.

"Gov. Daniels and his cohorts are clearly more invested in destroying workers' unions than in creating jobs or leveling the playing field for the 99 percent. But they didn't anticipate that the public would see through these attacks on middle class families. Undoubtedly, the politicians who supported this misguided legislation will pay the price at the polls on Election Day."