Labor
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What’s a lockout? Brenntag Des Moines workers locked out by management
Brenntag Des Moines workers have been locked out of work by their employer. But what is a lockout—and how can you support workers right now?
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7 Brew Des Moines workers left out in the cold, until this viral video
An Iowa TikTok creator thought she was calling attention to a specific problem in Des Moines. She had no idea the problems at this coffee chain were so widespread—until hundreds of messages began pouring in. “The number of people I’ve had crying in my DMs and on the phone,” Madelyn Houser Webb told me, “because they’ve…
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Whirlpool Amana laying off another 341 workers March 9: Iowa Worker’s Almanac, Feb. 19, 2026
Iowa Worker’s Almanac news briefs, Feb. 19, 2026: Back to work, for some: John Deere last week rehired 245 laid-off workers in Iowa, with 150 of them going back to work in Waterloo alone. Good news for those folks, but that’s less than half of the 598 workers the company laid off in 2025. Whirlpool will cut 341 workers…
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2 new Iowa bills to lower grocery prices: Iowa Worker’s Almanac layoffs and news for Feb. 12, 2026
Iowa Worker’s Almanac news briefs, Feb. 12, 2026: Pushing workers out of Iowa: Workers are leaving Iowa in droves. One Iowan confronted Republican lawmakers about how striking state affirmative action policies and allowing for discrimination in professional licensure would only make the problem worse. Two new grocery store bills to keep prices down: State Sen. Zach Wahls this week introduced two bills…
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Farmers haven’t profited in a decade: Iowa Worker’s Almanac layoffs and news, Feb. 6, 2026
Working-class news you can use for Feb. 6, 2026:
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In 1900, Buxton, Iowa, treated Black and white workers equally
Buxton, Iowa, was an unincorporated mining town where Black and white residents lived, worked, and went to school side by side—with equal pay and no segregation. How? It was designed that way.
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The economy is great again (LOL): Iowa Worker’s Almanac layoffs and news, Jan. 29, 2026
The economy is great again? That’s what US Rep. Ashley Hinson, running for US Senate, wrote in a Des Moines Register opinion piece this week in advance of President Donald Trump’s speech where he tried saying the same thing while he was in Clive Tuesday.
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Here’s when Case New Holland Burlington layoffs will happen
We knew this Southeast Iowa factory was closing. Now we know when layoffs are happening—and how many workers will be affected. (Watch this story on YouTube.) This week, Case New Holland filed notice that 209 workers will be laid off in Burlington. Instead of one big layoff, the company is using what’s called a “rolling layoff.” That’s where companies cut…
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Another rural hospital closes in Ottumwa: News and layoffs from the Iowa Worker’s Almanac
Worker-focused news from the Jan. 22 edition of the Iowa Worker’s Almanac: $15 minimum wage on the table: Iowa House Democrats unveiled a sweeping agenda last week that includes raising Iowa’s minimum wage to $15 per hour, establishing mandatory paid family leave, freezing utility rates through 2030, and eliminating the state’s Education Savings Account program to…
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3 work-related bills to watch in the Iowa Legislature
The Iowa Legislature is officially back in session. Here are three worker-focused bills you should be paying attention to, and whether they have a chance of becoming law.
