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Senate Update: Bill would make it harder for public employees to negotiate
by Bob Dvorsky, State Senator · Op-Ed · February 16, 2017
Police officers and fire fighters risk their lives for us every day.
Police officers and fire fighters risk their lives for us every day.
Nurses care for our loved ones when they’re sick or hurting. Teachers and coaches educate and train our future leaders. Correctional officers in our prisons help ensure our safety. Snowplow drivers work all night during a blizzard to keep our streets clear so that we can wake up and go about our lives in the morning.
Governor Branstad, Lt. Governor Reynolds, legislative Republicans and out-of-state special interest groups are pushing a legislative agenda that will drive down wages for Iowa workers, cut health care and degrade the quality of life we’re working so hard to improve. Their bills, Senate File 213 and House Study Bill 84, could be debated by the Iowa House and Senate next week.
The Iowa Public Employment Relations Act (often called “Chapter 20” or Iowa’s collective bargaining law) was approved with bipartisan support by a Republican-controlled Legislature and signed into law by Republican Governor Bob Ray in 1974. The law lays out the rules by which public workers and public employers—schools, cities, counties, the state— discuss issues, solve problems and reach mutually agreeable decisions in the workplace.
The current Iowa law works. Originally passed to stop strikes, it has served Iowans, workers and public employers well for more than 40 years. Law enforcement, fire fighters, teachers, nurses, correctional officers and other hard-working Iowans deserve what Chapter 20 gives them: fairness and a voice on the job.
We have real issues in our economy: Iowans are working more for less; many have seen their health care and other benefits slashed; and there’s an ever-widening gap between those at the top and the rest of us. We must find ways to lift up all Iowa workers with fair wages, benefits and a better quality of life.
Want to learn more about the costs and consequences of the Republican bills to strip workers of their collective voice? Check out these two new updates from the Iowa Policy Project: Attacks On Collective Bargaining – Hidden Costs, Untold Consequences for Iowans and Ratcheting Down Public Workers Pay.
To contact Senator Dvorsky during the week, call the Senate Switchboard at 515-281-3371. Otherwise he can be reached at home at 319-351-0988. E-mail him at bob.dvorsky@legis.iowa.gov.
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