Iowa Starting Line – Workers Almanac Natural List
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🌽 Big Problems for Ag Workers
Share with a friend It’s Worker Wednesday, Nov. 20, 2024. If you’ve been reading this newsletter for a while, you already know about the thousands of layoffs at meatpacking plants like Tyson Foods in Perry, and the thousands—in smaller batches—of workers laid off at John Deere plants across the state (in part to move some…
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🧑🔧 What About Listening to the Working Class?
Share with a friend It’s Worker Wednesday, Nov. 13, 2024. I’ve been reading several takes on what went wrong for Democrats in this election. And there’s one that actually resonates: The party as a whole needed to do a better job centering the working class. Before you furiously hit reply, look: I know…
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🧑🔧 Cargill Cuts Off Health Insurance to Cedar Rapids Strikers
Share with a friend It’s Worker Wednesday, Oct. 30, 2024. Cargill Corn workers in Cedar Rapids told me they don’t want you to forget about their struggle against the world’s largest grain trader. And that’s especially important this week, as Cargill cut off health insurance for its nearly 100 workers on strike. “For…
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🧑🔧 6 Anti-Worker Policies Passed By the Iowa Legislature
Share with a friend It’s Worker Wednesday, Oct. 23, 2024. 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…
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🪧 Cargill Strikers: ‘Don’t Forget About Us’
Share with a friend It’s Worker Wednesday, Oct. 16, 2024. At last Thursday’s rally at Cargill Corn Milling in Cedar Rapids, where around 100 Teamsters-affiliated workers have been on a Cargill strike since Oct. 1, workers talked about the disrespect they say they’ve gotten from their company during negotiations. (Read my stories about how…
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🥾 ‘Respect’ Biggest Issue For Cargill Strikers
Share with a friend It’s Worker Wednesday, Oct. 9, 2024. I went to the strike line at Cargill Corn Milling in Cedar Rapids last week, visiting with a few of the roughly 100 Teamsters-affiliated workers who have been on strike since Oct. 1. And those workers kept coming back to one major issue: Respect.…
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🌱 Cargill Workers Strike in Cedar Rapids
Share with a friend It’s Worker Wednesday, Oct. 2, 2024. Around 100 workers at Cargill Corn Milling in Cedar Rapids are officially on strike. The three-year contract between Cargill—with corn milling and soybean processing plants in the city—and workers unionized with Teamsters Local 238 expired at midnight Tuesday. But workers didn’t vote to…
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📄 Iowans Sued Over Noncompetes
Share with a friend It’s Worker Wednesday, Sept. 18, 2024. I heard from two workers being sued by an Iowa company over a noncompete agreement they say is unfairly keeping them from finding other jobs. Seneca Companies was started in 1972 by Chris Risewick, who sold petroleum equipment. Over the decades, the Des Moines-based…
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🤑 You’re Not Stupid, It’s the Economy
Share with a friend It’s Worker Wednesday, Sept. 11, 2024. Eight Iowans were killed on this day 23 years ago in the 9/11 terrorist attacks. Read their stories from Notes on Iowa. Did you watch the debate last night? (Watching clips on social media counts!) Tell me your thoughts, and I’ll run them in…
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🍕 Casey’s Workers: $15/hour. Casey’s CEO: $10.6M
Share with a friend It’s Worker Wednesday, Sept. 4, 2024. Monday was Labor Day in the US, and Iowa Federation of Labor President Charlie Wishman came out swinging against inequality in his Labor Day message: “Labor Day is for you, but as we reach the end of the summer of 2024, it feels like…
