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Saturday, December 17, 2005

Ind. Law - Laws deterred retaining Colgate plant, says Gov. Daniels

In a story today in the Louisville Courier Journal, Lesley Stedman Weidenbener and Alex Davis report:

INDIANAPOLIS — Gov. Mitch Daniels said yesterday that the state failed in its bid to keep the Colgate-Palmolive Co. toothpaste factory in Indiana because it doesn't have right-to-work legislation.

"We did absolutely everything we could do, and I think they'd tell you that," Daniels said of Colgate, which plans to close its 475-employee factory in Clarksville by January 2008. "I talked a couple of times myself to the CEO and to other leadership. We made an offer we believe was competitive in every other respect."

But, he said at a news conference, "they (Colgate) want to be in a right-to-work state."

Under right-to-work laws, employees can't be required to join a union — thus making union organizing more difficult. Kentucky and Indiana do not have such laws, and analysts have predicted that Colgate's new plant will almost surely be in a right-to-work state. * * *

Greg Fitzloff, president of the Southern Indiana Chamber of Commerce, said that Colgate considered a total of 60 sites in 10 states, and that Southern Indiana was among four finalists. He said that information, provided to him by Colgate officials, demonstrates that the area remains competitive despite not having a right-to-work law.

Union officials said earlier this week that they had been told that Indiana ranked last among the four finalists and that the state had been ruled out as a site. Colgate has not confirmed that, however, and it was unclear yesterday which states are still in the running.

The chamber of commerce has not taken a formal stance on right-to-work laws, but Fitzloff said he believes Indiana would be better off if it followed some of its Southern neighbors, such as Tennessee, by enacting such legislation.

Posted by Marcia Oddi on December 17, 2005 08:32 AM
Posted to Indiana Government | Indiana Law | Indiana economic development