Decades have passed since businesses and labor unions bitterly clashed in Louisiana, a tumultuous era that saw the state Senate bombed and, in 1976, the enactment of the state’s right-to-work law.
Now, after decades of dormancy, The Associated Press reports the two adversaries are gearing up for what could be the first major confrontation in a generation.
A coalition of state and national business groups hopes to deliver a death blow to organized labor in Louisiana by pushing an anti-union bill that would ban automatic deductions of  membership dues from the paychecks of government workers. Unionized firefighters, police officers and teachers would be among those affected.
Union leaders are pushing back, and they’re vowing to target in fall elections those lawmakers who vote for the bill by Rep. Stuart Bishop, R-Lafayette. The measure awaits a full House debate scheduled for today.
Supporters publicly market the effort as “paycheck protection” and insist that they aren’t anti-union, just philosophically against government payroll offices making deductions that could be funneled to political causes.
But in a video leaked last week, Baton Rouge businessman Lane Grigsby, who heads up a policy committee for the Louisiana Association of Business and Industry, made his intent clear during closed-door meetings: “If you control the money flow, you control the success.”
“When you cut off the unions’ funding, they lose their stroke,” Grigsby told a boardroom of supporters in the video. “This is a fatal spear to the heart of the giant.”
Through a spokeswoman, Grigsby declined to comment to AP. LABI President Stephen Waguespack didn’t respond to a request for comment, though the organization has made the bill’s passage a top priority for the legislative session.
In the past, dues deduction prohibitions have died in committee. This year, however, the effort has gained momentum, which has set off a flurry of behind-the-scenes activity by both sides in advance of today’s planned House debate.
Lawmakers were targeted by a mailer campaign in favor of the measure that was financed by Americans for Prosperity, the main political advocacy group for Charles and David Koch, billionaire brothers who spend millions on conservative causes.
Meanwhile, unions have instructed members to contact their local lawmakers and urge a “no” vote. Thousands of opposition letters have been sent to lawmakers, says Darrell Basco, president of the Louisiana Fraternal Order of Police.
