[Mind my words - I have repeated this mantra dozens of times in this blog - they want to own your ass. ---Bozo]
Iowa Republicans sped through a bill targeting public workers in ways similar to Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker’s signature union-busting measure:
Lawmakers in Iowa have voted to dismantle the state’s 40-year-old collective bargaining law, dramatically weakening the power of public sector labor unions and leaving some 185,000 public workers unable to bargain over benefits, healthcare, vacations, retirement, and nearly all workplace issues outside of wages.
Iowa is a right-to-work state, and the new law would prevent voluntary union dues from being deducted from a public employee’s paycheck. It would also require regular recertification votes. Police officers, firefighters and transit workers are exempt from most of the bill’s provisions.
According to a Des Moines Register editorial:
Instead of solving problems, the bill creates them. Blocking most public-sector unions from negotiating over health insurance leaves hundreds of thousands of workers (and their family members) wondering whether they would still receive health insurance through their public-sector employers.
Legislative Republicans don’t have any answers. Neither does Gov. Terry Branstad, who supports the bill. Instead, they try to shift the focus to an entirely different, barely baked idea they’re floating about a “voluntary” and “statewide” health insurance program to cover affected public workers. And they have provided zero details on what that would look like.
But answers and details are not what this is about. It’s about attacking worker power by weakening unions so that they can’t fight as effectively on behalf of their workers or to pass laws that benefit all workers.
Source
http://feeds.dailykos.com/~r/dailykos/index/~3/ZlwB0s5lFmk/-This-week-in-the-war-on-workers-Iowa-Republicans-go-all-Scott-Walker-on-public-workers
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