State workers rally against more cuts

A dozen state workers rallied outside the statehouse over the noon-hour, asking legislators not to cut any more state jobs. Jan Corderman is president of the AFSCME union, which represents 24-thousand state workers.Corderman says state workers “can’t tolerate” more cuts in the budget. Corderman says eight percent of state workers have been let go over the past 18 months. The workers who are left will be taking nearly 79-thousand hours worth of unpaid furloughs over the next six weeks, which Corderman says will result in service delays and disruptions.Corderman says the staff to inmate ratio at the state prisons is — in her words — “dangerously low.” She says many of the prisons are inside the city limits of Iowa towns and she says that puts people “at risk.”Corderman’s asking lawmakers to dip into a series of state accounts to cover the 400-million dollar shortfall. Also today, union workers picketed outside the home of Senate Appropriations Committee chairman Jeff Lamberti.