BLOOMINGTON
Unions seek 3.5 percent raise for IU’s employees
Labor unions that represent Indiana University’s employees are calling for a 3.5 percent raise for the school’s workers.
Union leaders also want IU to reinstate equity raises for employees who’ve taken on additional job responsibilities because of personnel cuts.
Communication Workers of America Local 4730 President Bryce Smedley says staffers have heard informally that the university is looking at a 1.5 percent increase for employees and tells The Herald-Times “That just doesn’t cut it.”
The CWA local represents 1,650 support staff in Bloomington and at the IU Northwest campus.
IU Chief Financial Officer Neil Theobald said that while IU failed to provide a salary increase for the first time in 50 years in 2009, raises since 2008 have amounted to an 8 percent salary increase for school employees.
INDIANAPOLIS
Senate panel OKs solid waste district funding bill
An Indiana Senate committee has approved a bill opposed by environmentalists that targets the revenue-generating powers of the state’s solid waste management districts.
The Senate Appropriations Committee voted 7-6 Thursday for the bill, which now heads to the full Senate.
The bill includes provisions that would strip solid waste districts of their power to impose user fees, and property taxes in most cases.
Hoosier Environmental Council Executive Director Jesse Kharbanda says the Indianapolis-based group supports the idea of improving the accountability of government spending but it’s concerned about how the bill would change the waste districts’ ability to generate revenue. Kharbanda says denying them that authority would endanger the sustainability of recycling and hazardous waste collection programs by waste districts across Indiana.
ACLU says teaching creationalism is unconstitutional
The American Civil Liberties Union of Indiana’s top lawyer says a pending bill that would allow schools to teach creationism in science classes clearly violates the U.S. Constitution and invites lawsuits.
ACLU Legal Director Ken Falk said Thursday that U.S Supreme Court precedents have established the unconstitutionality of teaching creationism in public schools. He says that “when lawmakers propose legislation they clearly know will end up in the courts, it wastes time and resources.”
The Senate Education Committee passed the bill 8-2. Committee Chairman Dennis Kruse of Auburn says he believes creationism should be taught among theories on the development of life and the bill leaves the choice up to schools.
Republican Sen. Luke Kenley of Noblesville calls the bill’s current language a “lawyer’s dream but still voted for it.
