Amie Rivers

Second in a two-part series on Dollar General coming into rural Iowa towns, and how rural grocers can still compete with them. Read Part 1 here. When Dollar General opened a store in Paullina, a small Northwest Iowa town, in 2018, Prairie Market Owner Laura Palmer thought the days were numbered for her small grocery…

As union workers at Case New Holland plants in Burlington, Iowa and Racine, Wisconsin continue their labor strike, it’s worth considering how easily the company could give workers everything they wanted—and more. That’s because the company is raking in healthy, even record profits, while its owner is drenched in extreme wealth. But those profits are…

Striking Ingredion workers in Cedar Rapids say it’s more than their livelihoods at stake if the company refuses to negotiate with them: Hazardous and potentially explosive chemicals and starches used to make Ingredion products are now being manufactured by replacement workers with unknown training. It’s especially dire because Ingredion is located not in an out-of-the-way…

Maybe you’ve noticed a trend of companies giving shareholders and executives even-bigger piles of money while offering their employees a pittance. One recent example from Iowa: Case New Holland International (CNHi), which has a plant in Burlington where 440 United Auto Workers members are on strike, noted in late July it had amassed “record consolidated…

In the midst of running her first Iowa Senate campaign, Deb VanderGaast had another big life change to deal with: Closing Tipton Adaptive Daycare, her disability-friendly daycare of 17 years. VanderGaast, a 54-year-old Tipton resident, talked about the ways she’d improve the lot of educators and childcare providers were she to be elected. As she…

Ingredion officials brought half a dozen armed guards to negotiations with unarmed workers in what union officials called “despicable” and “a clear attempt to silence and intimidate union members.” However, it appears it was the hotel revoking conference rooms that ultimately caused negotiations to break down this week. Catch me up Around 122 Ingredion workers…

As the strike of unionized Ingredion workers in Cedar Rapids continues well into its second month, company leaders publicized their side, frustrated workers promptly refuted it, and the Cedar Rapids City Council has opted to take a “work it out yourselves” approach. Ingredion, a manufacturer of starches, sweeteners, and other food products, took out a…