Labor Day means there’s work ahead for Iowa’s next AG

Labor Day honors the labor movement and the generations of working people who built our communities, strengthened our economy, and secured basic rights like the five-day work week and job safety rules we now consider fundamental.

But it’s also a day to recognize the work yet to be done in ensuring working Iowans have the dignity and protections they deserve in every job, in every industry, and in every corner of our state. Because let’s face it: the game is still rigged.

Even the best contracts are only as strong as the will to enforce them. That is where our leaders are supposed to step in — especially our attorney general. A report found that Iowa construction workers alone are missing out on $100 million a year in pay due to illegal misclassifications of their work and stolen wages that were never paid to 12,000 workers in 2023. Without proper enforcement of existing laws, some employers take advantage of the system, and workers pay the price.

The reality is that working Iowans have not had a state leader who is truly fighting for them for far too long. Instead, attorneys like me have stepped in to fight for working people and families whose wages have been stolen or whose contracts have been violated.

Across Iowa, people are not being paid what they were promised for the work they have already done. Today, as many as 250,000 Iowans have $900 million in wages stolen every year by their employers. As a labor attorney, I have been honored to fight alongside and on behalf of health care workers who care for the sick, law enforcement officers who keep our communities safe, and skilled public employees who provide essential services in every county of our state — and we won.

I stood with police officers in Clinton County when county supervisors insisted on doubling their health insurance arbitration. We went to arbitration and won, protecting affordable health care and the paychecks of the people we trust to respond to emergencies and keep dangerous criminals off the streets.

I worked with nurses, custodians, and other staff at the University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics who went years without being paid on time for overtime shifts. We secured a $15 million settlement for 11,000 workers — the largest wage recovery of its kind in decades. It was a powerful reminder that wage theft can happen anywhere, even in our most respected institutions.

These victories all share the same principle: when a contract is broken, a promise is ignored, or a worker’s wages are taken, the harm ripples far beyond that single workplace. Families feel it. Local businesses feel it. Entire communities feel it.

Imagine if these weren’t just case-by-case victories from one labor attorney, but a charge set forth by the office of Iowa’s Attorney General: to actually enforce the law and ensure working Iowans are paid what they are owed.

That’s why I’m running for attorney general: To be the fighter working Iowans have needed for decades. This office has tremendous power to level the playing field and I believe it’s time to treat wage theft like the theft it is.

Labor Day is for the homecare worker who helps a neighbor remain healthy and independent, the teacher who prepares the next generation to lead, the truck driver who hauls Iowa’s harvest to market, the mechanic who keeps snowplows ready so we can all get where we need to go, the retail worker who makes sure our shelves are stocked, and the farmer whose work feeds our state and our country.

Every one of them deserves fair pay, good benefits, and respect for their labor. That is not a partisan position; it is a basic Iowa value.

When Iowa’s workers succeed, Iowa succeeds. That’s worth working for every single day.

Nate Willems is a candidate for Iowa attorney general and labor attorney in Cedar Rapids and previously served in the Iowa House of Representatives from 2008 to 2012.