Labor unions rally for more Iowa workers at UI construction site

A multimillion dollar construction project at the University of Iowa, partially funded with taxpayer dollars, should have more Iowa workers on the job, local union leaders and Iowa legislators said Thursday.

Union backers have for months protested at the construction site of the UI's new Pappajohn Biomedical Discovery Building on Newton Road. They also hold occasionally rallies, with the latest rally on Thursday drawing about 75 people and a number of legislators.

"We are not pleased with them bringing out-of-state contractors and out-of-state workers on this publicly funded project," Scott Smith, president of the Cedar Rapids and Iowa City Building Trades Council, said. "I-JOBS was funded to put Iowa workers back to work."

Chicago-based Walsh Construction is the general contractor on the project.

Iowa law requires the state Board of Regents to accept the lowest bid on a project. The UI does not have the authority to dictate the make-up of the workforce on the construction project after the low bidder is selected, UI Spokesman Tom Moore said Thursday.

The total budget of the Pappajohn Biomedical Discovery Building is now at $126.7 million, Moore said.

Of that, $10 million came from the state in the form of I-JOBS dollars, money meant to stimulate job growth on Iowa infrastructure projects.

With the UI planning to spend millions on flood recovery projects in the coming years, it's important for Iowa union workers to speak up now about getting local workers on those projects, Bill Gerhard, president of the Iowa State Building and Construction Trades Council, said.

"This could be repeated over and over and over again unless we hold their feet to the fire," he said.

State Rep. Nate Willems, D-Lisbon, said the situation demonstrates Iowa's need for a prevailing wage law, to guarantee fair wages for Iowa workers on projects. State Sen. Bob Dvorsky, D-Coralville, added if the UI biomedical project had a project-labor agreement in place, it would require more Iowa skilled laborers on the job.

Iowa Congressman Dave Loebsack, a Democrat from Iowa City, said the issue on the UI project is part of a larger attack on unions nationally. He urged the local union members Thursday to keep fighting.

"Jobs that are supposed to go to the union members who are Iowans have to go to union members who are Iowans," Loebsack said. "That's the bottom line."