It’s Worker Wednesday, Mar. 12, 2025.
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Amie here. I may be changing around my newsletters a bit, but don’t worry: The Iowa Worker’s Almanac isn’t going anywhere.
First of all, news about what folks are going through on the job is kind of the main thing we all worry about: Am I making enough money? Is my boss treating me fairly? Are companies going to pack up and leave town? Why can’t I afford stuff anymore?
Second, when they hired me three years ago, it was explicitly to write about Iowa labor news from a worker perspective. While my job title has changed over the years, I’ve really started to learn about and enjoy this beat. I’m lucky enough to be able to continue this work, and nobody has tried to stop me.
Finally, nobody else seems to be doing worker-focused news in Iowa in any sort of dedicated, regular way—and people are hungry for it.
So thanks to all of you for reading, passing on story tips, talking to me at picket lines, and passing the word.
And, if you’ve been forwarded this email and you like it, subscribe for free here.
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Working class news you can use:
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Get ready for 50% tariffs on Canadian steel and aluminum: That’s according to an all-caps Truth Social post from Trump this morning. Canada, of course, immediately hit back with their own tariffs on a wider variety of goods, including computers and sporting equipment. But obviously this is Biden’s fault. (Mississippi Free Press, CBC, Daily Beast)
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Federal worker layoffs, funding cuts continue: Leaders are warning of consequences in Iowa from DOGE layoffs and funding freezes, including at the University of Iowa and USDA in Ames, where layoffs included a former student employee of the year. Some of those workers gathered in Iowa City to call on Rep. Mariannette Miller-Meeks to push back against the recent cuts (with more on the way this week). “She doesn’t stand up against this maniacal destruction of the public sector,” said Pat Kearns with the American Federation of Government Employees, “she’s gonna be held accountable for it.” (KGAN, Iowa Capital Dispatch, IPR)
- No more healthy eating in schools: The US Department Agriculture announced this week that it’s frozen payments on already-signed contracts to help schools buy vegetables and meat from local farms, including $7 million to Iowa schools and food banks to purchase local foods. (Iowa Starting Line)
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More L’s for DOGE: Lawsuits are cropping up over Elon Musk’s DOGE attempts at weakening or firing federal workers, including one over employees sending him lists of “five things they did today” and another from disclosing sensitive personal information. (Axios, IAM)
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Fact check: Sen. Joni Ernst is wrong: It turns out that Ernst’s assertion that only 6% of federal workers report to an office full-time is completely false. But here’s a real fact: Federal workers in Iowa are the lowest-paid in the country. (ProPublica, Axios)
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Welcome to Costco, I love (unions): More than 200 workers at the Costco in Coralville announced plans to unionize with Teamsters 238 last month. The union has also filed an unfair labor practice (ULP) charge against Costco for “violating employees’ federal rights to distribute union literature in non-work areas,” per the Teamsters (nothing yet on the National Labor Relations Board website). It would be the first unionized Costco in Iowa and the Midwest. (Iowa City Press-Citizen, Forbes)
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Work Without Worry could pass this year: The bill, which would increase income limits for disabled Iowans who work so that they won’t be kicked off their Medicaid, is eligible for a floor vote in the Iowa Legislature this year. I wrote about this bill last year, which had bipartisan support then, too, but failed to become law. (IPR, Iowa Starting Line)
- Pay disabled workers minimum wage: Companies are currently allowed to pay disabled workers as little as a few dollars per hour. But that could change if a bill going through the statehouse makes it into law. (Iowa Capital Dispatch)
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Cosponsored it, wouldn’t vote for it? Lori Chavez-DeRemer, President Donald Trump’s pick for Labor Secretary, was always a seemingly too-good-to-be-true pro-labor pick for our capitalist-in-chief. And, it turns out, she was—though she was one of just three Republicans in the House of Representatives to cosponsor the union-friendly PRO Act last year, she backed way the hell away from it at her confirmation hearing. The Senate confirmed Chavez-DeRemer on Monday. (Roll Call, AP)
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Door Dashers win New York lawsuit: That tip you gave on your Door Dash order before 2019 actually wasn’t a tip—it factored into the base wage for delivery drivers, which the State of New York argued was akin to wage theft. At least in that state, the company has settled with drivers to the tune of nearly $17 million. (Good luck getting our attorney general to fight for Door Dash drivers here; she’s way too busy trying to take away disability protections from students.) (Gizmodo)
- Iowa layoffs coming up in the next month:
– Fisher Group in Hiawatha is closing and laying off 32 workers by today (Wednesday). Read more here.
– JELD-WEN Inc. in Grinnell is closing and laying off 298 workers by Mar. 21. Read more here.
– Lutheran Services of Iowa is laying off 10 workers in Des Moines, three workers in Sioux City, and two workers in Waterloo by Mar. 28. The company is doing a second round of layoffs by Apr. 25, laying off another six workers in Des Moines, four workers in Sioux City, and two workers in Waterloo. It will lay off one more worker in Des Moines by June 27. Read more here.
– John Deere Des Moines Works in Ankeny is laying off nine workers by Mar. 31, 38 workers by Apr. 7, and 72 workers by Apr. 28. Read more here.
– NSK-AKS Precision Ball Company in Clarinda is closing and laying off 54 workers by Mar. 31. Read more here (🔐).
– Wells Fargo in West Des Moines is laying off 33 workers by Apr. 4.
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I am no economist, and my knowledge of capitalism basically boils down to this: It works best (for bosses) when they can divide us.
What’s the easiest way to do that? Dividing us into groups. The Trump administration and MAGA Republicans have now taken this to the extreme.
But the divisions sort of break down when you realize the big way they try to divide us is by telling us lies.
Do immigrant workers take our jobs? Do they drive down wages? Do they pay taxes?
Read the truth from Labor Notes.
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