INDIANAPOLIS - While Super Bowl players prepared for Sunday's NFL title showdown, protesting workers marched on the host stadium after a vote on Wednesday by Indiana lawmakers to weaken union power in the state.

With thousands of protesters in and around the statehouse in the shadow of the NFL host hotel, the Indiana Senate voted 28-22 for a bill that forbids companies from making deals with unions that force non-members to pay dues.

"It's a union-busting tactic all the way," said protesting carpenter Mike Coomes. "You just create more poverty. They want us to go back to slavery. We've worked 150 years to get here and they wiped it out in one vote."