On the streets and in the air, Teamsters bring opposition to 'union busting' bill to Iowa Capitol

While about 100 horn-honking Teamster vehicles circled the surrounding streets and an airplane pulling a banner circled above, the secretary-treasurer of the union's Local 238 in Iowa, Jesse Case, brought his heated rhetoric about what he calls union-busting legislation to the Iowa Capitol.

“We’re not taking it anymore. This is the beginning of an escalation and it either stops or continues to escalate. But we’re not going to take this laying down," Case said from the Statehouse steps on Wednesday, flanked by union officials and Democratic legislators. "We’re standing up, we’re fighting back, we’re united, and this is just the beginning,”

Frustrated by the latest proposed legislation pushed by Republican senators, the Teamsters staged a rolling caravan around the Capitol with vehicles ranging from semi-tractor trailers to small SUVs. Many carried “Stop the war on workers” signs while overhead, the airplane pulled a banner reading “Kill Sen. Dickey’s Union Busting Bill, ” a reference to Senate Workforce Committee chair Adrian Dickey, R-Packwood.

The Iowa Senate is expected to take up the controversial bill affecting members of public-sector unions, Teamsters among them, this week. The proposal is the latest legislation in a yearslong string under Republican legislative majorities to draw the ire of organized labor.

The bill would amend legislation passed in 2017 that requires public employee bargaining units to hold a recertification vote about 10 months before the expiration of their existing contracts, allowing members to say whether they want to continue to be represented by a union.

It would close what Dickey described as a loophole that enables an agency that doesn't want to require a recertification vote to avoid it and sign a new contract with a union by not submitting a list of employees who are eligible to vote.

Under the bill, the union would automatically be decertified if the employer didn't submit the list within five days of the deadline to do so, and it would be up to the union to go to court to seek a ruling to require the employer to submit the list.

Squarely in the crosshairs of Case’s message on Wednesday were Dickey and Sen. Jason Schultz, R-Schleswig, who have spearheaded the drive to pass the bill.

Suggesting further action the union may take, Case said “hundreds and hundreds” of Teamster-covered public employees across the state are illegally on call for emergencies without receiving pay and that they may not answer calls anymore outside their normal shifts.

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"We’re going to call Sen. Dickey or Sen. Schultz the next time the sewer backs up or the water supply is going to go down (in the middle of the night) because employees are not obligated to work for free,” he said.

“These are the people that keep our communities going strong and these are the people that are under attack by Senator Dickey and Senator Schultz and we're not going to take it anymore. All these people go above and beyond the call of duty. Why would they continue to do that when they're under attack?” Case asked.

He also left the door open for “rolling strikes,” even though it illegal for public employees to strike in Iowa, saying the union is raising money to pay fines.

“We’re looking at all options, but there’s other ways of doing it,” said Case, reiterating that public employees could stop answering calls to work in emergencies if they are not paid to be available.

Case said the union also would be taking its message to Dickey’s hometown in Jefferson County in the form of caravans, picketing and news conferences, noting that there are a lot of union-affiliated workers in that area.

Dickey defended the bill regarding recertification votes in an email to the Des Moines Register on Sunday.

"The bill, that they are using as a rallying cry is nothing more than a technical cleanup to legislation that was passed in 2017," Dickey wrote. "Last year, 41% of Iowa public sector workers that had union representation, did not have a voice due to a loophole in the legislation passed in 2017. If the public sector employer and the union are following the law, nothing will change for them."

Kevin Baskins covers jobs and the economy for the Des Moines Register. Contact him at kbaskins@registermedia.com.

This article originally appeared on Des Moines Register: Teamsters demonstrate against recertification bill at Iowa Capitol