The governor and Republicans in the state legislature want to end automatic payroll deductions for the DUES paid to public sector unions. The collective bargaining bill being debated in the Iowa House and Senate this week would make THAT change AND require government workers to vote regularly on whether they want to have a union in their workplace. Republican Governor Terry Branstad says the vote to establish the Iowa State Education Association as the union for Iowa teachers happened in the 1970s.

“Is it really fair that the teachers of today are stuck with a bargaining unit that was agreed upon in the ’70s, before they were even born?” Branstad says. “It seems to me this is an antiquated law that needs to be updated and the people that are actually employed today ought to have some voice in it.” Critics say these two moves could be the “death knell” for unions that represent government workers in Iowa. Senator Bill Dotzler, a Democrat from Waterloo who was a union worker at John Deere, says Republicans are trying to “stack the deck.”

“You want to get rid of the labor unions because you know how difficult it would be to collect those dues individually, but I’ve got news for you,” Dotzler said. “I’ve got a feeling that this is going to really incite members of the labor union and they’re going to sign up through the union and have that sent automatic.” Republicans say tax dollars shouldn’t be used through the payroll process to funnel dues to unions.

Florida legislators had a similar debate in 2011 about union dues. According to Politifact, analysts in THAT state concluded there were “positive, but insignificant” savings by ending the state payroll deduction for union dues. According to the Iowa Legislative Services Agency, requiring regular VOTES about whether a union should represent government workers would have “an unknown fiscal impact.”

(Radio Iowa)