Welcome to Thursday’s Almanac, for and about Iowa’s workers.

If break time’s over, here’s the tl;dr:

A healthcare company closed down the only clinic in town that takes Medicaid—and workers say it’s union busting.

Shannon Gooden is a dental receptionist with River Hills Community Health Clinic in Centerville. She and 20 other workers are still reeling after they were told River Hills was closing their clinic on July 31.

“I believe it was solely because of the union,” Gooden told me this week. “Because it’s just all so fishy.”

Rural health clinics are having a tough time keeping their doors open in Iowa, thanks to cuts to Medicaid in President Donald Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill Act.

But Gooden says the timing is suspect: Ninety percent of workers signed cards indicating their support to unionize with River Hills United, just after their colleagues up the road in Ottumwa successfully unionized. And the day they were told the closure was happening was the same day of River Hills’ deadline to file their response to the union election.

“Why all of a sudden out of the blue, when you have a deadline to notify the National Labor Board that day at noon, have an emergency board meeting and decide to close us?” she asked.

It’s this week’s top story.

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Amie Rivers

Newsletter Editor, Iowa Starting Line

Member, COURIER United (WGA East)

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Kraft-Heinz Davenport workers deserve a chance at getting pension credit they’re owed, a judge ruled last week. “Iowa workers just won,” said Nate Willems, who represented the UFCW Local 431 workers in the suit. Willems is running for Iowa Attorney General.
A class action lawsuit was filed last week against Hy-Vee, arguing that the grocery store chain treated salaried managers like hourly ones—but didn’t pay them overtime like hourly workers.
The US’s wheat crop is in bad shape this year, and unless you’re gluten-free, that’s gonna affect your grocery bill soon.
Iowa is one of three states where the gross domestic product (GDP) is tanking, according to the US Bureau of Economic Analysis. “After a decade of one-party rule, where has it gotten us? A trailing economy that isn’t growing, some of the lowest wages in the country, and layoffs stacking up,” said Rob Sand, the Democratic candidate for governor.
Trump’s ill-advised war with Iran has erased any wage growth Americans had over the past year and a half, according to EPI.
Union news: Seven full- and part-time and PRN registered nurses at Bettendorf Health Care Center filed for the right to vote on whether or not to join the United Food and Commercial Workers Local 431.
Won a union: Fifteen workers at Mydatt Services, aka Block by Block in Iowa City, voted 8-5 to unionize with Teamsters Local 238. Eighteen full- and part-time maintenance workers at Fair Oaks Foods in Davenport voted 11-2 to unionize with UFCW Local 431.
Decertified a union: One hundred ninety-seven full-time, part-time, and PRN nurses with UnityPoint – St. Luke’s in Sioux City voted June 18, 71-80, to decertify their union, United Food and Commercial Workers.

All information taken from Iowa Workforce Development’s WARN Act website. Read WARN Act and Iowa WARN Act criteria here.

Whirlpool in Amana is laying off 288 workers by Sunday. Read more here.
Wells Fargo in West Des Moines is laying off:
29 workers by July 11,
1 worker by July 25, and
43 workers by Aug. 22. Read more here.
Ryder Systems in Waterloo is laying off 153 workers by July 24, with workers told they can apply to work for the new company, HODGE. Read more here.
UnityPoint Health is laying off 203 workers statewide by July 24:
1 worker at UnityPoint Clinic Multi-Specialty in Cedar Rapids,
3 workers at Iowa Methodist in Des Moines,
19 workers at Accountable Care in Des Moines,
76 workers at UnityPoint Health Thornton in Des Moines,
2 workers at Finley in Dubuque,
1 worker at Trinity Pain Management Center in Fort Dodge,
1 worker at Accendra Health in Grimes,
97 workers at Proxy Access in Hiawatha,
1 worker at Marshalltown Hospital in Marshalltown,
1 worker at St. Luke’s in Sioux City, and
1 worker at Allen Hospital in Waterloo. Read more here.
US Cellular offices within Appliance Plus Cellular stores are closing and laying off 35 workers statewide by July 31:
5 workers in Algona,
5 workers in Charles City,
5 workers in Dyersville,
5 workers in Independence,
3 workers in New Hampton,
4 workers in Oelwein,
1 worker in Waukon,
3 workers in Webster City, and
4 workers in West Union. Read more here.