Anti-union law protested at Super Bowl

The New York Giants and New England Patriots football teams played Feb. 5 in the National Football League’s 46th Super Bowl in Indianapolis, Ind. Like its predecessors, this spectacle was fully in the hands of big business, notwithstanding the fact that more than 111 million people in the U.S. viewed the event.

This year, however, was different. The annual reactionary ruling-class party was met by demonstrators from the Occupy movement who turned out to confront both the preparation events and the Super Bowl itself. The protesters included union workers, who were protesting the law Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels signed four days earlier making Indiana the 23rd “right-to-work” state in the country.

The protesters have the support of the National Football League Players Association, which issued a statement denouncing the legislation before it was even signed into law. When asked why the NFLPA opposes the law, DeMaurice Smith, executive director of the players union, was direct:

“[On this issue] we are in lock step with organized labor. … We want decent wages. We want a fair pension. We want to be taken care of when we get hurt. We want a decent and safe working environment. So when you look at legislation…[that they want to call] something like ‘right to work,’ I mean, let’s just put the hammer on the nail. It’s untrue.

“This bill has nothing to do with a ‘right to work,’” Smith continued. “If folks … want to pass a bill that really is something called ‘right to work’ have a constitutional amendment that guarantees every citizen a job, that’s a ‘right to work.’ What this is instead is a right to ensure that ordinary working citizens can’t get together as a team, can’t organize, can’t stand together and can’t fight management on an even playing field.” (The Nation, Jan. 18)

Not only are right-wingers like Gov. Daniels opposed to unions, they have also slashed millions for public services, claiming they need to keep taxes low. But the Lucas Oil Stadium where the game will be played was built with $720 million of loans underwritten by public tax money. When these loans collapsed during the recent economic crisis, the public was left holding the bag. The Indiana state treasury paid $16.9 million to the Capital Improvement Board, which owns the stadium, just to bail it out of a credit default scheme, and it now faces $26.3 million in additional bailouts. This is on top of $7 million that the state paid in order to issue the bonds in the first place.

The stadium and hosting the Super Bowl are defended by proponents of professional sports as promoting “economic development,” a good business climate and of course jobs. But not much of this “trickles down” to the workers. In fact, the Indianapolis Hyatt Regency hotel, which has made millions in profits and expects to get $1,000 per night per room during the Super Bowl, just announced plans to fire 20 low-paid staffers for the “crime” of filing a federal lawsuit alleging wage theft.