Affordability will be focus for Iowa Dems this year: Iowa Worker’s Almanac news and layoffs

Working class news you can use:

• ‘Affordability’ key for Iowa Dems: Iowa House Democrats say they will focus on affordability in the upcoming legislative session, with plans for lowering property taxes, helping young Iowans buy their first homes, raising the minimum wage, and supporting the state’s workers. The 2026 legislative session starts Jan. 12; what are you hoping our state’s leaders address?
• Young Iowans aren’t optimistic about jobs: That’s according to a recent survey by Careerminds, which ranked Iowa as one of the least hopeful states for career advancement. Not a good thing when student loan payments are coming due. Oh, and we’re also one of the top states people are fleeing from. “We’re losing our next generation of Iowa workers to other states because Iowa isn’t delivering the good jobs and opportunities,” Rob Sand, running for Iowa’s governor, said of the news.
• At least we have affordable housing, though.
• United Nurses of Iowa declares victory: Though the company is still fighting them over disputed ballots after the December union election, UnityPoint nurses at four Des Moines hospitals, organized with Teamsters Local 90, remain confident they’ll win. “This is an accomplishment of massive proportions,” United Nurses of Iowa said in a release. “This election sets a record for the most money spent by a hospital on a union busting campaign and represents the single largest private sector union election in the state of Iowa.”
  
• Airport eatery company accused of wage theft: A Linn County woman filed what could become a class action lawsuit against a company that operates food and beverage concessions inside Iowa airports, saying they’re failing to pay minimum wage to tipped employees.
• Labor unions say no to war with Venezuela: “We join the international labor community in condemning President Trump’s unconstitutional actions in Venezuela,” the AFL-CIO said Jan. 3, just after news broke that Venezuela’s president and his wife were kidnapped by US forces in an overnight raid while dozens of civilians were killed in US-led bombings.
• Trump abruptly froze federal child care funding: Here’s how that will affect child care workers and families.
• Are robots the future of farming? John Deere says yes, but others think it’s just an excuse to get rid of farm labor entirely.
• Big union contract fights coming in 2026 include AT&T landline and fiber workers in the Midwest, UAW members at Case New Holland in Iowa, Bridgestone in Des Moines, Veterans Affairs nurses, letter carriers, Major League Baseball, and more; Labor Notes has the rundown here.
  
• Standard Forwarding Freight says it had “suspended” operations as of Dec. 29, though Teamsters, the union covering workers at terminals in Iowa and other Midwest states, says it had closed entirely. There was no WARN Act notice given.
• Voting on a union: Forty full- and part-time drivers and monitors at Durham School Services in Urbandale voted on whether to unionize with Teamsters Local 90 last month; no vote total was posted to the NLRB website as of this writing.

Upcoming layoffs:

All information taken from Iowa Workforce Development’s WARN Act website. Read WARN Act and Iowa WARN Act criteria here.

• Wells Fargo in West Des Moines is laying off 14 workers by Jan. 23, and 25 by Feb. 6.
• 10 Roads Express/10 Roads Service in Carter Lake is closing and laying off 42 workers by Jan. 30.
• DRT in Carter Lake is closing and laying off 26 workers by Jan. 30.
• CRST Expedited in Cedar Rapids is laying off 30 workers by Feb. 1.
• Medtec/CQ Medical in Orange City is closing and laying off 33 workers by Feb. 6.