a job. Rather, it makes it illegal for unions to require that each employee who benefits from the terms of a contract pay his or her share of the costs of administering it. By making it harder for workers’ organizations to sustain themselves financially, RTW aims to undermine unions’ bargaining strength and eventually render them extinct.

With the Republican sweep of state legislatures in 2010, a coalition of corporate lobbies, right-wing ideologues and Republican operatives seized the moment to reach their long-sought goal of extending RTW into traditionally union-friendly parts of the country.

In 2011 RTW was promoted in eighteen states but adopted in none. As the new year gets under way, national attention has focused on Indiana as the best hope of antiunion lobbyists. Republicans have comfortable majorities inboth houses of the Indiana legislature, and Governor Mitch Daniels is eager to sign a RTW bill. In March 2011 Democrats defeated RTW by fleeing the state—spending five weeks holed up in an Illinois hotel to prevent a legislative quorum. They returned only after Republicans promised that RTW would not be reintroduced in 2011.

As soon as the calendar turned over, the fight began anew, with the Republican leadership and the Chamber of Commerce declaring RTW a top priority. This time, Republicans have an added advantage. After the Democrats returned from Illinois, Republicans passed a law mandating fines of up to $1,000 a day for any legislator who skips town to prevent a quorum—and insisting that fines be paid by the legislators themselves. So far, the Democrats are bucking