It’s Worker Wednesday, Oct. 23, 2024.
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If you care about workers’ rights, or upholding federal child labor laws, or even being fiscally responsible with your tax dollars, you should know what your elected leaders have been up to in the Iowa Legislature before you fill out your ballot.
Iowa Republicans have held power for years in the state legislature, passing all manner of laws designed to take money from the middle class and give it to corporations and the wealthy, and make Iowans work harder just to earn a decent living.
Let’s look at six of the most egregious anti-worker policies of the last few years—and which state legislators on your ballot have voted for them.
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Iowa Sen. Brad Zaun, who voted to pass five of these six policies (he was absent for the flat tax one), shown here at the Iowa Legislature.
(Kelsey Kramer/Des Moines Register )
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This week’s Iowa worker news:
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Congressional candidates on the economy: Among Democrats running for Congress in Iowa, Lanon Baccam (pictured above), running against Rep. Zach Nunn, said holding price-gouging corporations accountable is “critically important” to lower costs. Christina Bohannan agreed, but opponent Rep. Mariannette Miller-Meeks simply blamed it on COVID-era relief programs that she previously supported. Sarah Corkery, running against Rep. Ashley Hinson, said extending Trump’s 2017 tax cuts on the rich was a bad idea—and she favors a wealth tax to protect Social Security and Medicaid for years to come. And Ryan Melton has chastised Rep. Randy Feenstra for refusing to ask for any congressional investments in Western Iowa.
- Speaking of lowering food prices, the USDA this month announced new actions they say should “promote fair and competitive markets for American farmers and ranchers” and lower grocery prices. Read more about those here.
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Trump is friends with John Deere again? After saying he would slap the agricultural manufacturer with big tariffs if they move production to Mexico, Trump said last week he heard “they’re probably not going to build the plants, OK? I kept the jobs here.” But Deere’s plans have literally not changed, Ed Tibbetts rightly points out. (In fact, Deere announced another massive layoff in the Quad Cities last week.)
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Fired for taking too long to pump breast milk: A former JBS pork plant worker won a settlement with the company after suing them for violating labor and pregnancy discrimination law for not providing her with a private room to pump, or enough time to do so. Learn more about the PUMP Act, which expressly requires employers to give you these things, here.
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Iowa pharmacies are closing at an alarming rate, with 20 pharmacies closing so far this year alone. The list includes both chain pharmacies (CVS, Hy-Vee) and independent ones, as well as both rural and urban locations. A pharmacy industry spokesperson blamed corruption from pharmacy benefit managers, or PBMs, which act as a middleman between pharmacies and drugmakers. Here’s a map of pharmacy closures over the last 10 years.
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Another Iowa nursing home with insufficient staffing: While Iowa Attorney General Brenna Bird fights a law that would require minimum nursing home staffing, another Iowa nursing home faces a second wrongful death lawsuit caused in part by insufficient staffing—this time in Pleasant Hill.
- After selling the Kum & Go convenience store chain to Utah-based Maverick, the Krause Group has laid off nearly 90% of its workforce in Des Moines—from 446 workers in 2023 to just 58 today.
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Lily Ledbetter, inspiration for Fair Pay Act, dies: Rest in power to the worker who found out she made thousands less than her male coworkers, took on a big corporation all the way to the Supreme Court, and became an advocate for what would eventually be her namesake law (and continued until her death to press for more).
- Ever had problems trying to cancel a subscription? From Planet Fitness to Amazon Prime, businesses can give you the runaround when you want to cancel. No longer: A new federal rule, which should go into effect by next year, will force them to have the same easy way to cancel as it is to sign up.
- “Many assume that children working long hours in dangerous jobs is a thing of the distant past,” a new report from the Economic Policy Institute says. “Unfortunately, they’re wrong.”
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Union petitions are on the rise: In the most recent fiscal year ending Sept. 30, the National Labor Relations Board received 27% more union election petitions than the year prior. And that’s more than double the amount they received in FY 2021.
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Iowa layoffs coming up in the next month:
– Wells Fargo in West Des Moines is laying off 47 workers by Nov. 18, and eight workers by Dec. 1.
– Duluth Trading Company in Dubuque is closing and laying off 74 workers by Sunday. Read more here.
– Chicago Rivet and Machine Co. in Albia is closing and laying off 19 workers by Oct. 31. Read more here.
– Gates Corporation in Newton is closing and laying off 30 workers by Nov. 1, three workers by Nov. 15, and six workers by Nov. 22. Read more here.
– Omaha Standard in Council Bluffs is laying off 49 workers by Nov. 1.
– Tyson Foods in Perry is still closing, with another 19 workers to be laid off by Nov. 1.
– JELD-WEN in Grinnell is laying off 152 workers by Nov. 7. Read more here.
– Cygnus Home Services, aka Yelloh, is closing five Iowa locations, and laying off 13 workers in Atlantic, eight in Dyersville, 10 in Marion, 10 in Sioux City, and 12 in West Union, all by Nov. 22. Read more here.
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The bird flu variant that has spread to over 300 dairy cattle herds in 14 states, infecting at least 26 farm workers, “should be a story of heroism, cooperation, and an all-hands effort to defeat a wily virus that many scientists warn could mutate into a pandemic threat,” says a new article in Vanity Fair.
“Instead, it is a story of intimidation and obfuscation. The vets who sounded the alarm have been silenced, some even fired, and won’t discuss their experiences on the record for fear of reprisals. And the federal agency that was supposed to help thwart the virus instead has allowed for an unspoken ‘don’t test, don’t tell’ policy among dairy farmers.”
Why? Maybe because the USDA is responsible not only for the health and safety of our food supply, but also promoting and protecting Big Ag.
Read the details of the breakdown here.
(Send me your book/movie/article suggestions here.)
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