Iowa Union scores ‘bittersweet’ win under new collective bargaining law

DES MOINES - Iowa's largest public employee union has scored what its leader called a bittersweet victory in an arbitrator's ruling.

In one of the first arbitration cases under the state's new collective bargaining law, which dramatically reduced public employee unions' bargaining authority, an arbitrator recently ruled in the union's favor in a case involving secondary wage issues, including pay dates, salary structures and direct deposit requirements.

'The arbitrator's ruling is bittersweet,” said Danny Homan, president of AFSCME Council 61, which represents about 40,000 Iowa public employees. The case affected 18,500 of those. 'On one hand, I'm happy that the award was in our favor, on the other hand, I'm sad that this now is what we consider a win for state employees - the ability to negotiate pay days and pay grades.”

The new collective bargaining law, passed in February by Republicans in control of the Legislature and governor's office, dramatically reduced the items over which public employee unions can bargain.

In a contract negotiation with the state, AFSCME argued pay dates, baseline wages and direct deposit requirements should be permissible as bargaining items and made proposals for each. The union's proposals required the state to maintain payday schedules, continue to permit employees to receive paper checks instead of direct deposits and establish base wages for job classifications.

The union argued the elements were needed to prevent employers from suddenly changing one of the items, which it argued would upset workers' economic lives.

The state argued those items do not fall under eligible items in the new law and did not include proposals on the items in its contract offer.

Hugh Perry, an arbitrator for the state's Public Employment Relations Board, on April 19 ruled in favor of the union, documents show.

Perry said the union's proposals were 'most reasonable.”