Iowa governor signs bill limiting collective bargaining for state employees
By
Marcus Day
18 February 2017
Iowa’s Republican Governor Terry Branstad signed legislation Friday which guts state employees’ rights and paves the way for the further decimation of workers’ living standards. The bill is modeled on the Wisconsin anti-worker law which provoked mass demonstrations in 2011, and went into effect immediately.
The 68-page legislation prohibits contract negotiations between state employers and public employee unions over any issue except base wages. Health insurance premiums and out-of-pocket costs, pensions and retirement packages, vacation and other paid time off, and working conditions more broadly will all be barred from negotiations and may now be unilaterally dictated by state employers.
In instances in which negotiations reach an impasse and move to arbitration, wage increases will be capped at 3 percent or the Consumer Price Index (CPI), whichever is lower. The governor will also retain the authority to reject agreements reached between state institutions and public employee unions.
A ban on strikes by public employees—first implemented in the 1974 collective bargaining law which the current bill replaces—will remain in effect.
Although Iowa has been a “right-to-work” state since 1947, the new legislation is also aimed at further undermining the income and influence of the trade union bureaucracy. As with Wisconsin’s Act 10, the automatic deduction of dues from public employees’ paychecks will be eliminated, and the unions will be required to gain recertification by the majority of the bargaining unit prior to each new contract.
The new legislation will impact approximately 184,000 workers throughout the state. Teachers; state and county…