Labor wars: politicians scrutinize organized contracts

DES MOINES - Across the country, Republican governors and lawmakers took aim at organized labor contracts this winter, and Iowa's Gov. Terry Branstad was no exception.

Some, like Gov. Scott Walker in Wisconsin and Gov. John Kasich in Ohio, were able to push through their reforms even as protesters marched on their respective statehouses, attracting national and, in Wisconsin's case, international news coverage. Others, like New Jersey's Gov. Chris Christie and Gov. Rick Scott of Florida are still in the middle of fights with public unions.

Branstad's hopes of making changes to Chapter 20 - that's the section of state law that governs collective bargaining - were dashed April 1 when the Democratically controlled Senate let the House-approved reform package die in committee.

Branstad says he'll still push for labor reforms, either as part of budget negotiations or through the good will of the unions, until the new contracts take effect July 1. But it's unlikely he'll make much headway. Democratic lawmakers have stood with the unions both figuratively in stopping the Chapter 20 package, and literally, by joining the labor rallies on the west Capitol steps and inside the rotunda this session.

Still, when the legislature adjourns for the summer, Branstad might come out better than some of his Republican peers who were actually able to get reform legislation enacted, but now face legal challenges to their bills and potential recall referendums.

“It gives him a perfect target,” said Iowa State University Political Science Professor Steffen Schmidt. “He can point to the Senate Democrats and say, ‘It's their fault.' ”

And that is exactly what the governor has been doing.

Blame game

“I lay the blame on the people who won't take it up for discussion, if the Senate refuses to debate the issue, I think it says they're afraid to give their members opportunity to vote on it,” Branstad said. “I don't think anybody should deny - on an issue of this magnitude and importance - should deny people an opportunity to debate it.”

Key components of the Republican-backed labor bill were:

• Arbitrators could look at public and private salaries when determining wages and benefits in union negotiations.

• It provided a “free agency” provision, which allows a person to negotiate his or her own salary and wages outside of the union even in a union shop.

• It mandated that public employees pay at least $100 a month to their health insurance.

• Senate Democrats take the governor's criticism in stride. Sen. Pan Jochum, D-Dubuque, vice chairman of the Senate committee that killed the bill, said the majority of the senators felt the existing rules for negations, which have been in place since the late 1970s, work fine.

“Why would you bring up something that you think is already working? It's like looking for a solution in search of a problem,” she said. “What I know is right now both sides can negotiate on their issues.”

Sen. Jeff Danielson, D-Cedar Falls, who is not on the labor committee, but is a member of the Senate leadership, said he sees no reason to try and force a vote. “I respect the process that is in place,” he said.

The court of public opinion

On Monday, about 300 union members rallied on the west Capitol steps. The mood was much different than when they met last month in the Statehouse rotunda in advance of a public hearing on the labor bill.

Back then, there seemed to be a feeling of uneasiness in the crowd. The speeches were all about stopping the Chapter 20 reforms and what would happen if they didn't.

Monday's rally felt more like a victory party.

“Mr. Walker played his hand, and he got bit,” said Danny Homan, president of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees Council 61, the largest public labor union in the state. He was referring to Wisconsin's Walker, whose labor legislation is tied up in the courts and who is the subject of a recall petition in his state.

As for Branstad, Homan said he's always willing to talk with the governor. Then he smiled.

“Who would have thought that that you would take on organized labor in the Midwest?” said Peter Orazem, an economics professor at Iowa State University who studies labor issues. “In Wisconsin? In Ohio, home of Cleveland, Toledo and Akron?”

Orazem doesn't think the Republicans overplayed their hands, but they might have underestimated the resistance they'd get. He suspects that Wisconsin and Ohio blew up much more than Iowa because those states had more generous benefits to begin with, so the changes seemed much more drastic.

Still, he thought the Republicans had the momentum on their side, at least at the beginning.

“There was a lot of pent-up frustration from taxpayers who saw their wages frozen and had layoffs in their private-sector jobs, but were seeing guaranteed raises in the public sector paid for with their taxes,” he said.

Jochum, said the Republicans most definitely overreached. “I think they did in many respects when they went after the middle class,” she said.

Branstad, meanwhile, said he'll continue to talk to about labor reform as he travels around the state. He said he's not sure, however, if the momentum is on his side or organized labor if the fight continues.

“I guess time will tell, I honestly think that what government is doing is unsustainable and unaffordable,” he said. “It just is a situation where we can't afford to continue government as usual. The cost of the health-care system and the retirement system is out of whack with the rest of society, and it needs to change.”