Iowa GOP Defeats Pro-Union Amendment

House Democrats in Iowa tried to undermine the state's Right to Work law in March. Democrats disguised House File 2645 as an uncontroversial set of amendments to Iowa's collective bargaining law.

To be eligible for the debate on March 19, any amendment had to be filed by 4:00 p.m. the previous day. At precisely 4:00 p.m. on March 18, House Democrats added a 14-page amendment (H-8164) to HF 2645.

The amended version of the bill would have dramatically altered negotiations to favor labor. Perhaps the most significant change was the addition of a highly contentious "Fair Share" provision. Under the plan, all employees working under a bargaining unit would have had to pay their "Fair Share," thus making way for forced unionism throughout the state.

House Republicans protested and forced Democrats to offer an alternative version that blocked forced unionism stipulations from making their way to the bargaining table.

Ryan Harriman (rharriman@effwa.org) is coalitions manager and a labor policy analyst with the Evergreen Freedom Foundation in Olympia, Washington.