The cold didn't bother labor union members like Jerry Misner this afternoon as he joined thousands of comrades to protest outside the Indiana Statehouse.

"It's not near as cold today as it will be if all this legislation get through," said Misner, president of United Steelworkers Local 115A in Lafayette. "There's a lot of folks here who are trying to pay to heat their houses and put food on their tables."

Hundreds piled on buses and departed from several Lafayette locations this morning to join the rally, which was aimed at drawing the largest crowd in recent history to such an event at the Capitol.

Around 1:30 p.m. today, Misner described the crowd as excited and fired up.

"We're encouraging our Democratic legislators to stand strong," he said. "We're going to stand strong with them."

Read more in Friday's Journal & Courier.

This is an earlier story on the rally--

Thousands of union supporters ignored icy winds today for a rally outside the Indiana Statehouse calling for lawmakers to drop measures that would cut back on labor rights.

"The working men and women of Indiana have come back to take back the people's house for the people of Indiana," Nancy Guyott, leader of the Indiana AFL-CIO, told the rally.

Rep. Bill Crawford, D-Ind, one of the Indiana Democrats that forced the Indiana House into a three-week deadlock by holding out in an Illinois hotel, addressed the crowd that filled the massive plaza on the west side of the Statehouse.

The Democrats want Republicans to take a repeal of the prevailing-wage law and private school vouchers off the table to end the impasse, Crawford said.

Leo Gerard, international president of the United Steelworkers. said that corporate America started a war on unions. "We're going to kick their ass," Gerard said.

The rally began with a minister praying for justice, and wisdom for lawmakers.

A Marine veteran of Iraq and son of a steelworker led the crowd in reciting Pledge of Allegiance

As of noon, the rally drew more than 8,000 people, Indiana State Police spokesman Sgt. Dave Bursten said

Largest Statehouse rally in 16 years expected today

INDIANAPOLIS -- David Frye wants the lawmakers who want to change Indiana's collective bargaining rules to know this fight hits home.

It's a message Frye, a Laborers International Union member from Terre Haute, plans to deliver in person today at what is expected to the be the largest Statehouse rally in 16 years.

Republicans say the changes they are seeking will benefit taxpayers by lowering the cost of public construction projects. Frye said labor union members are those taxpayers, and lower wages for them will erode wages for everyone, while hurting the businesses where they spend their paychecks and the state that collects the taxes.

The rally, which begins at 11:30 a.m. on the west side of the Statehouse, is expected to be the largest since 20,000 union members rallied in 1995 to protest legislation targeting their wages on public projects.

Union members say their wages are again under assault. Angered by proposed education reforms they think will hurt the public schools their children attend and in which many union members teach, they've launched daily protest rallies.

The slew of bills that affect collective bargaining has united union members, from the laborer's union to the AFL-CIO to the teachers' unions. Even the National Football League's Players Association has weighed in, saying in a statement Wednesday they "stand together with the working families of Indiana and organized labor in their fight against this attempt to hurt them."

The fight over these bills is why House Democrats are, in essence, on strike. They remain in an Urbana, Ill., hotel, refusing to give Republicans the quorum they need.

That standoff began Feb. 21, and isn't over yet as Democrats want a handful of bills either killed or moderated, particularly House Bill 1216, which covers the wages and bidding on public construction projects, and House Bill 1003, which lets tax dollars fund private school tuition.

Republicans have been just as adamant that they've already taken one bill off the table -- the so-called "right to work" bill which bans companies and unions from negotiating contracts that impose fees on non-members -- and aren't pulling any more. Any negotiations, says House Speaker Brian Bosma, R-Indianapolis, need to take place in with Democrats back on their jobs, through the normal legislative process.

Wednesday night, Democrats were selling their side to the public, in a telephone "tele-town hall" in which all but one of the pre-screened callers was thanking them for taking a stand and most wanted to know how they could help. Democrats said they are not accepting their daily expense pay, are spending no tax dollars on their lodging and are still working -- even if it's from Illinois.

Earlier Wednesday, though, both Republican and Democratic leaders were optimistic the end could be in sight.

Bosma said the Wednesday call and Tuesday letter he received from House Minority Leader B. Patrick Bauer, D-South Bend, Wednesday morning were "my first glimmer of hope here in three weeks."

While legislators will not be in session today or Friday, Bosma said he was "hopeful Monday is a work-day for everyone."

Bauer said that "might be a stretch."

Still, he said, returning next week was possible if Republicans agree to some changes on bills. That includes to a bill creating vouchers to send some students to private schools.

LANSING – With hundreds of union supporters loudly protesting outside their doors, Senate Republicans set up a final vote for

 Wednesday to give state-appointed emergency managers much greater power to overhaul city or school finances, including termination of employee union contracts.

The legislation drew more than 1,000 protesters to the Capitol, and many swarmed into the rotunda chanting “Kill the bill” and distracting the Senate during its regular session. Dozens packed the gallery above the Senate floor and were mostly quiet but admonished at one point for clapping and cheering.

Senate sergeants-at-arms watched crowd warily to assure it did not attempt to enter the chamber, where decorum is strictly enforced.

Senate Democrats, outnumbered 26-12, were repeatedly snubbed in their effort to amend a bill that has become one flashpoint for labor unions to rally against what they call an assault on bargaining rights.

Senate Majority Leader Randy Richardville, R-Monroe, said the Senate would likely pass the legislation Wednesday

That invites yet another protest at the Capitol, where several rallies in recent weeks have been spurred in part by political clashes and pro-union demonstrations in Wisconsin’s Capitol building over Republican attempts to eliminate collective bargaining rights for state employees.

“There’s a lot going on in this country,” said retired Livonia school teacher Mike Kelly, 62, who was among those outside the Capitol for a rally.

He said the emergency manager bills are part of a larger conservative effort to crush unions’ political clout, especially in presidential elections.

“We didn’t create financial crisis, we’ve given up wages and concessions in benefits over the years,” he said. “This is about power.”

Inside the Capitol, on the rotunda’s second level, United Steelworkers member Tom Zalwacki, 56, of Jackson, watched others chant, “Shame on you,” and, “We are union,” aimed at the Senate.

Senate Republicans positioned a slightly revised version of the main bill that would give emergency financial managers, appointed by the state treasurer, more sweeping authority than under current law.

If approved, the measure, along with companion bills, would go to the House for concurrence. The House has already passed a version of the legislation, with no Democratic support, and it would have to reconcile differences with the Senate version.

Either version would give emergency financial managers authority to dissolve local governments and school boards, assume management control and even order millage elections.

Senate Minority Leader Gretchen Whitmer, D-East Lansing, said giving emergency managers such power invites undue authority over cities and school districts, especially as many would face financial insolvency under Gov. Rick Snyder’s budget plan to cut their state aid.

Whitmer was angered by Senate Republicans’ defeat of a Democratic attempt to limit emergency financial managers’ pay to no more than the governor’s proscribed salary of $159,300. (Gov. Rick Snyder, who is independently wealthy, is accepting a $1 salary.)

Democrats’ pointed to Detroit Public Schools emergency manager Robert Bobb’s original salary of $425,000 -- which has been cut to $259,000 -- and complained the state could end up paying for high-priced managers who drastically cut pay for police, firefighters and teachers.

Bobb, who has clashed repeatedly with the Detroit school board over reforms, has called on the Legislature to give emergency managers like him more power to enact financial and management changes.