Amie here. You probably already know Iowa has a problem getting qualified health care workers:

We’re 44th in the nation for physicians to patients, or 30% worse than the national average;
The problem is particularly bad in our nursing homes;
Iowa Republicans passed a bill to fund more residency slots, though most med students leave Iowa because residency slots aren’t enough in some students’ minds to make up for an onerous abortion ban and vaccine skepticism.

One of the biggest problems is finding enough nurses, particularly in our rural hospitals. A big reason for that is low pay.

Fewer health care workers, particularly nurses, means delays in care. In the worst cases, such delays can be dangerous or deadly.

That’s something around 2,000 nurses at UnityPoint Health in Des Moines have been working to improve for the better part of a year, as they fight their company for the right to unionize for better staffing, safety, wages, and benefits to help keep nurses in the state.

Those nurses, along with their potential union, Teamsters Local 90, held a rally this week to keep the pressure on.

In attendance were several Democratic candidates for office. That included Stephanie Steiner, a retired nurse from Sutherland who is running for US House in western Iowa’s District 4.

“Iowa ranks 48th in the nation for nurse pay, and our rural hospitals are struggling to survive,” Steiner said. “Nurses are leaving the state for better opportunities elsewhere—and that means patients and families are left at risk. This is a crisis we cannot ignore.”

State Sen. Zach Wahls of Coralville, one of three Democrats running for US Senate, also attended. In a crowded primary, Wahls is looking to position himself as the candidate for labor and the working class, and recently got endorsements from Ironworkers Local 89 as well as Teamsters Local 90.

“UnityPoint has already spent more than $2 million on anti-union consultants to try to intimidate their staff—that money could have hired nearly 30 full-time nurses for an entire year,” Wahls said. “Instead of union-busting, UnityPoint should respect their workers and let nurses make their own decision about forming a union.”

Also in attendance were Nathan Sage, another candidate for US Senate, and former Iowa House Minority Leader Jennifer Konfrst, running for US House District 3.

“The PRO Act obviously needs to be passed to give labor unions the strength they need to be able to work for the workers that they represent,” Sage said.

What do you think? Email me.

Amie Rivers

Newsletter Editor, Iowa Starting Line

Member, COURIER United (WGA East)

Email me

Jesús Hernández of Muscatine has been in the Muscatine County Jail since July, when he tried to pick up his car after an attempted carjacking. (Courtesy Escucha Mi Voz)

Muscatine construction worker and victim of crime jailed: Jesús Hernández was shot when two people tried stealing his car. After a hospital stay, he went to pick up his car—and immigration enforcement officials detained him for being undocumented. Congress created a U-visa that protects victims of crime who assist in prosecutions, but so far the county attorney has refused to sign the certification, despite protests from the community. (IPR)
Labor Day in Iowa: Monday, Sept. 1, is Labor Day in the US, and the Iowa Federation of Labor has a listing of picnics and parades across Iowa here. But it’ll be more than that this year, as hundreds of protests are planned simultaneously for the holiday, including from May Day Strong.
More John Deere layoffs are coming, including 115 workers at Harvester Works in East Moline, Illinois, by Aug. 29; 71 workers at the Foundry in Waterloo by Sept. 19; and 52 at Seeding and Cylinder in Moline, Illinois, by Sept. 26. The company blamed “decreased demand and lower order volumes” caused by “the struggling ag economy.” Deere estimates it has lost $300 million due to President Donald Trump’s tariffs so far this year. (KCRG, The New Republic)
Deporting the meatpacking workforce: Canceling work visas and ordering workers to self-deport won’t just affect JBS in Ottumwa; it “could be just the start of a wave of job losses,” with thousands more Iowans at risk. Don’t worry about the meatpacking companies, though; they’ve gotten less federal oversight on safety and sped up the lines. (Des Moines Register)
There are 3,800 open positions at Iowa schools, per the Teach Iowa website. Teaching resource website Fullmind called it “significant.” “What is driving the current situation is a large number of teachers quitting and few qualified applicants for available vacant positions,” the site said.
Illinois legislation to protect workers: Describing Trump’s order eliminating collective bargaining as “an assault on labor,” Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker signed a package of legislation that preserves gains won by workers, regardless of what the federal government does in the future. (My Stateline)
They weren’t allowed to strike. They went on strike anyway, and won: Around 10,000 flight attendants working for Air Canada went on strike Saturday, saying they were regularly not paid for work performed while planes were on the ground. They stood their ground—and grounded all flights—until Tuesday, winning a tentative agreement that ends such unpaid work. (IPR)
Will Social Security get to 100? This month marks 90 years since the signing of the Social Security Act, and Trump’s “Big Beautiful Bill” has actually sped up the timeline for when full benefits will no longer be paid out—now by 2032, unless Congress acts. (Iowa Capital Dispatch)
Won a union: Seventeen linemen, apprentice linemen, line foremen and member service technicians with Southwest Iowa Rural Electric Cooperative in Corning voted 17-0 to unionize with the IBEW Local 55.
Voting on a union: Twenty-four x-ray radiographers and lead workers with American Ordnance in Middletown vote Sept. 17 on whether to unionize with IAM Local 1010.
Starting up a union: Fifty full- and part-time workers at River Hills Community Health Center in Ottumwa refiled a petition to unionize Aug. 8 with River Hills United/Teamsters Local 90.
The Iowa State Fair is over, but if you missed the first year of the Lineman Rodeo put on by IBEW Local 55, check out the photos here or the video from Iowa PBS here.

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 35 workers by Sunday, 11 workers by Sept. 8, 44 workers by Sept. 22, 10 workers by Oct. 4, and 10 workers by Oct. 18.
FedEx is laying off 168 workers at three locations by Sept. 1: 57 workers in Cedar Rapids, 84 workers in Des Moines, and 27 workers in Dubuque. Read more here.
Winnebago Industries is closing and laying off 18 workers in Charles City and 77 workers in Waverly by Sept. 8, and laying off another 26 workers in Charles City by Dec. 12. Read more here.
TreeHouse Foods in New Hampton is closing and laying off 48 workers by Sept. 12. Read more here.

“Why can’t you run X like a business?” seems to be the test case for everything in the Trump administration.

But unlike private carriers like UPS and FedEx, the US Postal Service has a “universal service obligation,” meaning it has to deliver—at affordable prices—to every address in the entire, vast United States.

So what would privatizing the USPS cost?

About 102 million Americans would pay a lot more for their mail, it turns out.

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