Wednesday was a difficult day for The American Independent News Network, which is the larger entity that operates The Iowa Independent. Our chief executive and founder announced two of our sister sites would close and their content would be moved to The American Independent.
A recently introduced bill could have far-reaching impact on the U.S. sugar industry, including American Crystal Sugar, a farmer-owned cooperative that locked out 1,300 Midwest workers on Aug. 1.
The chairman for Herman Cain’s Iowa effort says the campaign “relied more on the word of farmers than Washington regulators” in deciding to run an ad containing claims the Environmental Protection Agency says are false.
The Iowa Senate will remain under the control of a slim 26-25 Democratic majority when it reconvenes in January 2012.
The Cedar Rapids Gazette’s Rod Boshart caught up with GOP gubernatorial hopeful Terry Branstad in Atlantic on Monday, where he told the crowd he would rescind Democratic Gov. Chet Culver‘s executive order from earlier this year regarding Project Labor Agreements (PLAs).
The order required all state departments and agencies to consider using PLAs on large-scale construction projects over $25 million. It does not force an agency to use the PLAs, only requires them to consider it.
Terry Branstad (photo by Dave Davidson, TEApublican.com)
Branstad’s campaign criticized the order almost immediately after it was issued, releasing a statement calling it a “back-door way to usurp the legislative process and give payback to those whose support Culver desperately needs: The labor unions.” He repeated that line of attack Monday, and vowed to rescind it if elected.
Business groups and Republicans have argued that PLAs increase the cost of projects. However, a study conducted of the PLA used during construction of the Iowa Events Center in Des Moines by the nonpartisan Iowa Policy Project found, “the gross dollar savings from using the PLA was going to be greater than that wage differential, and the PLA would produce a worthwhile positive net benefit.”
The primary purpose of PLAs is to ensure smooth completion of projects by getting the participants — project manager, the contractors and workers — to agree to certain ground rules, thus expediting the project with minimal disruptions. Provisions within a PLA standardize and stabilize wages and benefits, starting and ending times for employees and requires workers to agree not to disrupt the project if labor disputes arise, but rather submit disputes to fast and binding arbitration so the project can move forward.
Labor has repeatedly been a target of Branstad’s campaign since winning the Republican primary June 8. Last month he told the Iowa Association of Business and Industry’s annual convention that organized labor’s legislative agenda would be dead the moment he becomes governor.
Branstad also vowed Monday to rescind former Democratic Gov. Tom Vilsack’s 2005 executive order that automatically restores voting rights to felons who complete their sentences.
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