(Radio Iowa) – An educator from the University of Iowa Law Center says Deere and Company has made a strategic move to seek rulings in state rather than federal court to limit where and how striking workers may picket. A Scott County district court judge has granted a temporary injunction that bars striking workers outside John Deere’s Davenport Works from having chairs or fires in barrels and no more than four may be positioned at entry gates. Paul Iversen, who joined the Labor Center at the University of Iowa a decade ago, says a 1931 federal law sets the rules for how federal judges may rule when employers ask for restrictions on picketing.

“One of those rules is you can’t get that injunction unless the chief public safety officer of the jurisdiction, so the chief of police or the county sheriff, says that they’ve lost control of the situation,” Iversen says, “so you never get a federal court (ruling) because no county sheriff that’s going to stand up for election is going to say: ‘I’ve lost control of the picket line.'”

Deere and Company told the state court judge picketers outside its Davenport Works were blocking access and putting themselves and salaried workers going into the plant at risk. A spokeswoman for Deere and Company says the Iowa judge’s order ensures a safe environment for those reporting to work and those exercising their right to strike. The company is seeking a similar injunction for picketing outside John Deere’s Ankeny plant. Iversen says companies have historially sought limits on people exercising their right to strike.

“The strike is meant to shut down the employer. That is the purpose of a strike,” Iversen says. “Trying to bring in an injunction, saying it’s hard for us to work during a strike — that’s what a strike does.” Iversen made his comments during taping of the “Iowa Press” program that airs tonight (Friday) on Iowa P-B-S.