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An Indiana Teamsters local is suing the city of Shelbyville and its chief of police, accusing officers of forcing them to move the picket line further away from the Horseshoe Indianapolis casino where nearly 200 workers are on strike.
Teamsters Local Union 135 filed the lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Indiana on Nov. 6, stating that officers with the Shelbyville Police Department ordered protesters to disperse from their picket line outside the casino, even though the union claims the picket line was on public property.
The lawsuit alleges the city has violated the National Labor Relations Act, which guarantees employees the right to strike and picket under certain conditions, and the First Amendment, arguing that the city is restricting the workers’ free speech rights and their right to assemble.
David Vlink, an attorney for the union, did not immediately respond to The Indiana Lawyer’s request for comment.
The Shelbyville Police Department told The Indiana Lawyer in a phone call that it has no comment at this time.
According to the complaint, about 200 of the casino’s dealers and dual-rate workers were scheduled to vote in a union election on Oct. 17, which would determine whether they could obtain union representation.
The workers demanded better short-term disability pay, increased wages and safer parking lots, according to several news reports. However, the government shutdown caused the election to be delayed indefinitely.
The workers then proposed using a neutral third party to conduct the vote as planned, but the union says the casino, which is owned by Caesars Entertainment, refused the request.
The workers responded with a strike and began picketing in front of the casino, including what the union describes as public sidewalks, easements and rights-of-way outside the entrances.
After picketing began on Oct. 17, police officers arrived on the scene and advised the union’s president, Dustin Roach, where they could lawfully protest.
The union contends that it picketed peacefully and within the officers’ instructions, and that it did not impede the ingress or egress of traffic through any of the casino’s entrances or on the public street.
But on Nov. 5, the union alleges that, at the casino’s behest, officers with Shelbyville’s police department arrived on the scene and ordered the workers to disperse, saying they couldn’t picket where they were along the public road.
The lawsuit states that an officer approached Roach and told him to leave and that he was trespassing and that Roach was later told a prosecutor was seeking a warrant for his arrest for trespassing.
The case is Teamsters Local Union No. 135 v. City of Shelbyville, Indiana, and Chief Bill Dwenger ( 1:25-cv-02278-JPH-TAB ).
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