Iowa Worker’s Almanac news briefs, Sept. 10, 2026:
- Rents are rising faster in Cedar Rapids and Linn County than in other parts of Iowa—a trend Escucha Mi Voz links to the boom of data center building in the area.
- Solidarity with Novalex workers: All 33 Iowa House Democrats signed on to a letter expressing support for the 54 workers at Novalex in Cedar Rapids on strike for better pay and conditions. “These UAW workers are standing up for those across Iowa who are tired of corporate greed and policies from lawmakers in Des Moines that continue to put working people last,” said House Democratic Leader Rep. Brian Meyer.
- Get your coffee someplace else: As Starbucks continues to stall on negotiating a first contract with the Starbucks Workers United union, workers are now calling for a complete boycott of the chain.
- Deere workers who voted down a company proposal to extend their current contract say they did so because “they see the quarterly profits. They see the promises to pay out shareholders through buyback,” said Jake Lane, education chair at UAW Local 450 in Des Moines.
- Encouraging doctors to stay in Iowa is the focus of the Iowa White Coat Network, a new mentoring program launched recently by the Iowa Medical Society.
- A Tyson plant in Illinois near the Quad Cities shut down with no warning, leaving 2,500 meatpacking workers out of a job. The state is “in talks” with the company about repurposing or selling the facility.
- Illinois rideshare drivers can now officially unionize, after Gov. JB Pritzker finally signed the Rideshare Drivers’ Union Rights Bill into law, allowing Uber and Lyft drivers to “bargain for much-needed safety protections, due process before deactivation, and living wages,” the App Drivers Union IL said.
- Watch the numbers: “Almost every ‘average net worth’ figure you’ve seen is a mean, and a mean is what you get when a few thousand very rich households are averaged in with everyone else,” it says on Find the Norm, which helps you compare your salary and net worth to the median instead.
- Blame Canada: President Trump says his 50% tariffs on Canada—and that country’s reciprocal tariffs—are fine because we “don’t need Canada.” Tell that to farmers stuck in the middle.
- Want to protect the right to vote by mail? A new petition calls on the US Postal Service’s board of governors to ignore Trump’s executive order that would put new federal rules on absentee ballot eligibility and “take a stand.”
- Workers earned a record low share of the value they produce this year, among records going all the way back to 1947, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Guess where that money’s going?
- How much is your company spending on busting a potential union at your workplace? Labor Lab just came out with a new calculator helping you figure it out.
- Voting on a union. Seventy full- and part-time fixture, X-ray, layout, and laboratory workers at Wellman in Creston (WDC Acquisition) will vote Sept. 16 on whether to unionize with IAM District 6.
- There has been movement in the last month on the unionization vote challenge of nearly 2,000 nurses at UnityPoint-Des Moines‘ four hospitals, with some celebrating the union’s victory, but nothing definitive yet from the NLRB.
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:
20 workers by Sept. 19
7 workers by Oct. 3
14 workers by Oct. 17
5 workers by Oct. 31
Read more here. - CNH Industrial in Burlington is laying off:
13 workers by Sept. 25
5 workers by Dec. 31
Read more here. - People First Sanitation in Sioux City is laying off 54 workers by Sept. 25.
- NFI Interactive Logistics in Cedar Rapids is closing and laying off 49 workers by Sept. 30. Read more here.
- RTX in Cedar Rapids is laying off two workers by Sept. 30.
- Great Southern Bank is closing two Iowa locations by Oct. 1 and laying off:
5 workers in Ankeny
4 workers in Pleasant Hill
Read more from the company here. - Lund Food Holdings in Lake Mills is closing and laying off 23 workers by Oct. 9. Read more here.
