Welcome to Thursday’s Almanac, for and about Iowa’s workers.
If break time’s over, here’s the tl;dr:
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An estimated $900 million is stolen from Iowa workers by their employers every year.
If he’s elected, labor lawyer Nate Willems says he’ll make sure the state prioritizes getting that money back in workers’ hands.
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“Nine hundred million dollars is a figure 10 times the amount of all other types of theft in Iowa combined,” Willems told me. “And Brenna Bird’s never gonna do a thing about that.”
His proposed Wage Theft Enforcement Unit would start enforcing laws already on the books.
It’s this week’s top story.
What labor law do you want enforced better? Reply and tell me.
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Amie Rivers
Newsletter Editor, Iowa Starting Line
Member, COURIER United (WGA East)
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Iowa’s child labor problem: Our state had 10 times the rate of child labor law violations compared to the US as a whole in 2025, according to Common Good Iowa’s Sean Finn—and businesses are rarely penalized for it.
- After a fire closed the AgriStar plant in Postville, Catholic Charities has set up a fund to help workers and their families impacted by it.
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Iowa’s Beginner Farmer Tax Credit was supposed to help bring more young people into farming. But two decades after it began, there’s little evidence it’s done anything but subsidize land leasing deals that were already going to happen.
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After a worker at a Smithfield Illinois plant died on Monday, management told workers to keep working—but they walked out instead.
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Trump order restricting absentee ballots scrapped: The Supreme Court ruled against President Donald Trump’s order for postal workers to screen for eligible voters. “This decision is a victory for every American and a relief for postal workers who are committed to serving them,” said postal workers’ union President Jonathan Smith. “Today’s decision protects Iowa voters from potential last-minute changes to how they can cast their ballot,” added candidate for Iowa Secretary of State Ryan Peterman.
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Small gains, but not for everyone: The US Census Bureau is touting a higher median wage and slightly lower poverty rate across the country. But Black women’s wage gap is widening: A Black woman worker makes just 64 cents to the dollar paid to men, while her white counterpart makes 84 cents to a man’s dollar.
- The Iran War has now cost the average US household over $1,700, and is poised to drive up inflation even higher.
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Tariffs have cost Iowa $1.7 billion since January of 2025—and the new trade war with Canada will likely raise that number.
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Why are so many men between 25 and 54 leaving the workforce? I honestly can’t believe it took someone this long to figure it out.
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The “Protect College Sports Act” in Congress would allow the NCAA to restrict college athletes’ money, and make it harder for them to collectively bargain, according to the AFL-CIO.
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Voting on a union: Seventy full- and part-time fixture, X-ray, layout, and laboratory workers at Wellman in Creston (WDC Acquisition) voted yesterday on whether to unionize with IAM District 6; results were not released as of this writing.
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There has been movement in the last month on the unionization vote challenge of nearly 2,000 nurses at UnityPoint-Des Moines‘ four hospitals, with some celebrating the union’s victory, but nothing definitive yet from the NLRB.
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Wells Fargo in West Des Moines is laying off:
20 workers by Saturday
7 workers by Oct. 3
14 workers by Oct. 17
5 workers by Oct. 31
35 workers by Nov. 14
Read more here.
- CNH Industrial in Burlington is laying off:
13 workers by Sept. 25
5 workers by Dec. 31
Read more here.
- People First Sanitation in Sioux City is laying off 54 workers by Sept. 25.
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NFI Interactive Logistics in Cedar Rapids is closing and laying off 49 workers by Sept. 30. Read more here.
- RTX in Cedar Rapids is laying off two workers by Sept. 30.
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Great Southern Bank is closing two Iowa locations by Oct. 1 and laying off:
5 workers in Ankeny
4 workers in Pleasant Hill
Read more from the company here.
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Lund Food Holdings in Lake Mills is closing and laying off 23 workers by Oct. 9. Read more here.
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Unions give workers an equal footing with bosses. Co-ops, by contrast, are worker-owned workplaces.
But the two different structures can offer a lot to each other.
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Would you pass this newsletter along to your fellow workers?
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Thanks for reading. This newsletter was written by Amie Rivers. It was edited by Paula Solis.
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