Ragan Report

Protecting Iowa’s working families
    Police officers and fire fighters risk their lives for us every day.
    Nurses care for our loved ones when they’re sick or hurting.
    Teachers and coaches educate and train our future leaders.
    Correctional officers in our prisons help ensure our safety.
    Snowplow drivers work all night during a blizzard to keep our streets clear so that we can wake up and go about our lives in the morning.
    Senate File 213and House Study Bill 84are pushing a legislative agenda that will drive down wages for Iowa workers, cut health care and degrade the quality of life we’re working so hard to improve.
    The Iowa Public Employment Relations Act (often called “Chapter 20” or Iowa’s collective bargaining law) was approved with bipartisan support by a Republican-controlled Legislature and signed into law by Republican Governor Bob Ray in 1974. The law lays out the rulesby which public workers and public employers—schools, cities, counties, the state— discuss issues, solve problems and reach mutually agreeable decisions in the workplace.
    The current Iowa law works. Originally passed to stop strikes, it has served Iowans, workers and public employers well for more than 40 years. Law enforcement, fire fighters, teachers, nurses, correctional officers and other hard-working Iowans deserve what Chapter 20 gives them: fairness and a voice on the job.
    We have real issues in our economy: Iowans are working more for less; many have seen their health care and other benefits slashed; and there’s an ever-widening gap between those at the top and the rest of us. We must find ways to lift up all Iowa workers with fair wages, benefits and a better quality of life.
Want to learn more about the costs and consequences of the bills to strip workers of their collective voice? Check out these two new updates from the Iowa Policy Project: Attacks On Collective Bargaining – Hidden Costs, Untold Consequences for Iowansand Ratcheting Down Public Workers Pay.
     Sen. Amanda Ragan (D-Mason City) serves Franklin, Butler and Cerro Gordo counties in Senate District 27. She can be reached at (515) 281-3371 or (641) 424-0874. Email her at amanda.ragan@legis.iowa.gov.