Iowa news and layoffs for May 7, 2026
- Paid more, still earning less: It’s Teacher Appreciation Week, but while public school teachers in Iowa got a bump in pay from the Iowa Legislature, they’re still making less than they were 10 years ago because of inflation. “The reason we fell so fell so far behind wasn’t just because of inflation, but because the Iowa Legislature waited 11 years to give teachers a raise,” argued Ed Tibbetts this week. “And how long will it be before Iowa lawmakers give teachers another raise? How far behind will we have fallen by then?”
- He said the Iowa visit was about workers’ issues, but Vice President JD Vance came to Des Moines yesterday and basically just stumped for US Rep. Zach Nunn, whose re-election is now rated a “toss up.”
- Here’s what “getting rid of DEI” means: Black Americans have lower employment compared to last year, with Black men in particular finding less work than they did a year ago.
- What if Spirit Airlines, which shut down entirely this weekend, was brought back as America’s first worker-owned airline?
- AI is the “single biggest threat to working people of our lifetime,” according to Liz Shuler, president of the AFL-CIO, which represents unions representing 15 million American workers. “It is a right now issue,” she told the National Press Club last week. “It’s something working people are thinking about every single day.”
- Starting a union: Twenty-one health care workers at River Hills Community Health Center in Centerville filed a petition May 1 for the right to vote on unionizing with River Hills United (Teamsters Local 90).
Upcoming layoffs:
All information taken from Iowa Workforce Development’s WARN Act website. Read WARN Act and Iowa WARN Act criteria here.
- CNH Industrial in Burlington is closing and laying off:
one worker by May 22,
seven workers by May 29,
15 workers by June 26,
13 workers by Sept. 25, and
five workers by Dec. 31.
Read more here. - Wells Fargo in West Des Moines is laying off:
62 workers by May 30,
25 workers by June 13, and
10 workers by June 27.
Read more here. - First Student in Waterloo is closing and laying off 120 workers by June 30. Read more here.
