Stories

I caught up with U.S. Rep. Steve King (R-Iowa) at the How to Take Back America Conference to follow up on an issue that had come up there: “defunding the Left.” After ACORN, what was the next natural target for Republicans?
King said it would be the Service Employees International Union.
“When you think what happened to [...]

U.S. Sen. Tom Harkin told a crowd of labor activists Thursday that he had amassed the 60 votes needed to pass a version of the Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA) back in July but that Massachusetts Sen. Edward Kennedy’s illness prevented him from casting the deciding vote.

Not much has changed in the past year for 360 workers from Grain Processing Corporation in Muscatine.
On Aug. 22, 2008, the company and United Food and Commercial Workers Local 86D could not negotiate a new five-year contract. The workers were locked out, and continue to picket at various locations within the community.

The Iowa State Education Association PAC raised more money than any other Iowa-focused political action committee during the first 6 months of 2009, bringing in $204,072, according to paperwork filed with the Iowa Ethics and Campaign Disclosure Board.

The provision of a controversial bill that would give workers the right to unionize as soon as a majority of employees in a workplace signed cards saying they want a union has been dropped, a move designed to make it easier for the legislation to pass.

Gov. Chet Culver’s re-election hopes are in “deep trouble,” and he runs a very real risk of being the first Iowa governor since 1962 to be defeated, former Democratic state Rep. Ed Fallon said in an Op-Ed sent to the media Tuesday morning.
Fallon, who lost to Culver in a three-way Democratic gubernatorial primary in 2006, [...]

The Iowa Association of Business and Industry has released its 2009 legislative scorecard, with 27 Republicans in the House and three in the Senate receiving perfect scores.
The grades were based on legislator’s votes on nine bills in each chamber. In the Senate, they ranged from a bill that “streamlines the Iowa Values Fund” to bills [...]

Speaking at a labor rally this weekend, Pennsylvania Sen. Arlen Specter voiced support for the Employee Free Choice Act, a turn of events that could revive the hopes of a bill many felt was doomed.
The legislation, which is sponsored by Iowa Sen. Tom Harkin, makes it easier for labor unions to organize. Iowa Republican Sen. [...]

Iowa Sen. Tom Harkin said Tuesday that if those who currently oppose the Employee Free Choice Act are not willing to work with him on a compromise, he will will try to force a vote on the original bill.

After my report earlier today about the outlook for organized labor going into 2010, one unanswered political question remains: After Democratic majorities failed to move key components of organized labor’s agenda from 2007 to 2009, will national labor groups continue to direct resources to Iowa Democrats, or will they move on to other states where [...]