Amie here. 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 just never had anybody tell them that this isn’t okay.”
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Houser Webb is a Central Iowa creator who posts family and lifestyle content to TikTok under @houserwebbfamily. She has over 140,000 followers and millions of video views.
Last fall, she and her family started going to 7 Brew, a coffee stand near their home. They liked it and got to know the workers well.
But one frigid winter day, when temperatures dropped into the negative double digits with the windchill, Houser Webb noticed several young workers standing outside with no protection from the cold.
She worried about their safety.
“As we were driving up, I’m like, ‘Wait, why are they outside? Are they gonna be outside all winter?’” she recalled thinking. “And then the person who brought the drink, my husband was like, ‘Are you guys getting heaters?‘
“And no one really had an answer.”
Thinking the Arkansas-based company might not be used to an Iowa winter, Houser Webb posted a video and tagged 7 Brew.
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“I just wanted someone to say like, ‘Hey, yeah, we’re gonna get them heaters,’” Houser Webb said.
Instead, comments and private messages from 7 Brew workers across the country started pouring in. Workers told her they had little or no protection from the weather, whether it was too cold, too hot, or storming. And they said that wasn’t the only issue facing the mostly teenage staff.
Houser Webb was stunned.
“This isn’t just a one-stand issue,” she said. “Now, I’m looking at all these messages coming in. And the stories are horrific, to say the least.”
One woman who worked at a 7 Brew in the Des Moines metro, who asked to be anonymous to avoid retaliation for talking to press, told me outdoor employees at her store—known as “texters”—were required to stay outside their entire shift regardless of conditions, with no water or bathroom breaks. (Workers in other states told Houser Webb the company is supposed to have a policy about switching out workers in inclement weather.)
The worker also said the store hired mostly young workers in their first jobs, who were less likely to speak up about, or even recognize, bad working conditions. (A message seeking comment sent through 7 Brew’s contact form was not returned by the time this published.)
Houser Webb said, to the company’s credit, they installed heaters in toll-booth-sized “huts” for texters at her local store soon after her video went viral.
“I felt like, I’m so glad that you did that for these people. But now I have, at that point, 500 people across the country who are experiencing the same thing,” she said. “And you’re not sending heaters to them, and you’re not sending toll booths to them.”
Houser Webb says 7 Brew leaders have stopped talking with her, and workers have told her they’ve been forbidden from commenting on her videos. But she said she won’t stop advocating for them.
“Nobody deserves, for $8 to $10 an hour, to get frostbite for standing outside for four hours. Nobody deserves to have sunburn so bad that they can’t even put their clothes on,” she said, referencing messages from workers she’s gotten. “It’s a dangerous environment and, to me, it’s not necessary.”
Do you work at 7 Brew? Reply and tell me your experience.
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Amie Rivers
Newsletter Editor, Iowa Starting Line
Member, COURIER United (WGA East)
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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.
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Whirlpool will cut 341 workers in Amana by March 9, according to Iowa Workforce Development. The International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers, which represents workers, called the news part of “a pattern of corporate abandonment,” noting Whirlpool has been “aggressively expanding its manufacturing footprint in Mexico” at the expense of Iowa workers. “This is precisely the kind of offshoring that hollows out American manufacturing communities and leaves workers who have given years and decades of their lives to this company,” the union said in a statement. “Whirlpool cannot claim to be committed to the United States while it trades American jobs for cheaper labor across the border.” Whirlpool already laid off 651 workers in Amana last June.
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Iowa manufacturing exports down $1 billion in 2025: That’s a drop of 8.4% over 2024. Even worse: Iowa lost jobs every month last year, and manufacturing has been hit hard: Across the Midwest, factory jobs have dropped a whopping 20% since 2000, even worse than the country as a whole. “2025 was marked by thousands of layoffs, and 2026 is already headed down the same path,” Rob Sand, a candidate for Iowa governor, said in a release.
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Union endorsements: Teamsters Local 238, as well as International Union of Operating Engineers Local 150 and Local 234, all endorsed state Sen. Zach Wahls for US Senate last week. “Zach Wahls is the real deal—he’s honest, he listens, and he doesn’t put on an act for election season,” said Jesse Case, secretary-treasurer of Teamsters Local 238. “Zach Wahls has consistently shown he understands that strong wages, strong benefits, and strong safety standards are how you build a strong middle class,” said James Sweeney, president-business manager of Local 150. “Zach will fight for good-paying jobs, safe worksites, strong benefits, and a fair shot for every Iowan who puts in an honest day’s work,” said Jason Copple, business manager of Local 234. // Ironworkers Local 67 endorsed Grace Van Cleave for Iowa Senate District 17 in Des Moines last month. “We believe Grace will be a strong voice for unions within the Iowa Senate,” the union said in a statement.
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After two state penitentiary workers were hospitalized after being stabbed in January, state Rep. Larry McMurty announced he will lead a public roundtable with public safety employees to discuss staff assaults and workplace conditions at 4 p.m. Monday, Feb. 23, at the Prairie Meadows Event Center’s Altoona Room.
- President Donald Trump lowers federal contractor minimum wage: The change means federal contractors will get a minimum wage of $13.65/hour starting this May—more than four dollars lower than the $17.75/hour they got under President Joe Biden.
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Civil rights activist and presidential candidate Jesse Jackson died this week at 84. His ties to Iowa, because of his presidential campaign, were extensive—you can watch footage of him speaking to labor unions as well as Iowa reporters.
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Decertifying federal unions despite ongoing litigation: Office of Personnel Management Director Scott Kupor last week told all agencies to either amend or fully cancel their collective bargaining agreements in line with Trump’s executive orders last year—despite the fact that whether Trump’s orders were even legal is still in court. “A federal court has already made clear that agencies must restore union recognition and maintain existing collective bargaining agreements,” the IAM union responded this week. “If an administration can unlawfully strip rights from federal workers, no worker in America is safe from similar attacks.”
- A petition to sign for farm workers: Read about the Protect US Farm Workers Act of 2026, which would limit the number of guest visas for agricultural workers—who are more likely to be exploited than local workers—and sign a petition if you support it here.
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College-educated Black women had the steepest loss in jobs in 2025, dropping by 3.5% over 2024—”a direct consequence of the Trump administration implementing massive federal layoffs and buyouts over the last year, a sector where nearly half of Black workers have a bachelor’s degree or higher,” wrote EPI.
- Most working-class Americans with employer-sponsored health care spend 10% or more of their income on premiums, co-pays, and deductibles, a new study found.
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The agricultural economy has gotten so bad even US Sen. Chuck Grassley is blaming it on Trump’s tariffs.
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Hope you’re not old or disabled, because the Social Security Administration is apparently bleeding staff.
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Voting on a union: Fifty full- and part-time workers at River Hills Community Health Center in Ottumwa vote today on whether to be represented by Teamsters Local 90.
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Winnebago Industries in Charles City is closing and laying off its remaining 23 workers by Friday.
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MercyOne is closing and laying off 40 workers in Ottumwa by Feb. 27, laying off 67 workers at MercyOne Des Moines Medical Center by Mar. 17, and laying off 34 workers at MercyOne North Iowa Medical Center in Mason City by Mar. 17. Read more here.
- Whirlpool in Amana is laying off 341 workers by Mar. 9. Read more here.
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Cedar Valley Corp in Waterloo is closing and laying off 89 workers by Mar. 17. Read more here.
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Thanks for reading. This newsletter was written by Amie Rivers. It was edited by Paula Solis.
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