Iowa, Like Colorado, Bending to Government Employee Union Pressure

The pressure to expand the power of government employee union officials at the expense of taxpayers is not isolated to Colorado. The Des Moines Register reports:

Ignoring pleas from the governor and a slew of local elected officials to give Iowans time to weigh in, Democrats in the Iowa Senate today approved a labor-backed bill that would give unions more power at the negotiating table.

House File 2645 would give public employees the same power as managers to open up contract talks to almost any workplace subject. The Senate approved the bill on a 27-23 vote.

Six days passed between when this proposal was offered and the bill’s passage by both chambers. It marks the first substantial change since the collective bargaining law was written in 1974.

In both places the pro-union political forces have pushed their proposals forward on the fast track. Democrat Gov. Chet Culver expressed uneasiness at the fact that Iowa’s legislature rushed the collective bargaining bill in a mere six days, but at least their legislature got to debate the issue at all. Here in Colorado, our own Democrat Gov. Bill Ritter reshaped public employee labor law in union officials’ favor by executive order.

More of the change that Democrats have to offer.