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Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Eye On Boise

Union workers protest anti-union bills in House committee hearing

J.D. Day, a union pipe-fitter from Boise, testifies to the House State Affairs Committee on Tuesday at a hearing on two anti-union bills, SB 1006 and 1007, both of which already passed the Senate; Day said the bills would hurt Idaho wages and the committee was
J.D. Day, a union pipe-fitter from Boise, testifies to the House State Affairs Committee on Tuesday at a hearing on two anti-union bills, SB 1006 and 1007, both of which already passed the Senate; Day said the bills would hurt Idaho wages and the committee was "being sold a bill of goods." (Betsy Russell)

There's a full house in the House State Affairs Committee this morning, where two Senate-passed anti-union bills, SB 1006 and 1007, are up for a hearing. The committee watched a video of loud, angry carpenters union pickets at the state capitol from two years ago, but many of those testifying said they disavow such tactics and the bills won't fix them, they'll hurt union workers in the state. "I think you're being sold a bill of goods," J.D. Day, a union pipefitter from Boise, told the committee. "It's not good for Idaho." He said the carpenters union has withdrawn from the AFL-CIO and "we abhor what they're doing." Said Day, "I would lot rather work as a cooperative partner with somebody than trying to coerce 'em into something - what kind of a relationship is that?" Day said his union has 500 workers in Boise. "Do we pass a law like this to get rid of one noisy group?" he asked. "This is a law that's going to hurt a lot of union families. It's going to hurt the wages that we have in the state."



Betsy Z. Russell
Betsy Z. Russell joined The Spokesman-Review in 1991. She currently is a reporter in the Boise Bureau covering Idaho state government and politics, and other news from Idaho's state capital.

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