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Union backlash against six Democrats

March 6, 2009 By

One of the state’s labor leaders warns Democrats who voted against a union-backed bill may face a backlash at the ballot box in 2010. Last month a bill that would have required a "prevailing wage" be paid on taxpayer-funded construction projects got the support of 50 Democrats in the Iowa House, but five other Democrats voted against it.

"I think we’re clearly going to look closely at those people who’ve supported us and we’ll look closely at some of the others," says Iowa Federation of Labor president Ken Sager. "We’re trying to do an analysis to see where we have possibilities to do some positive things in terms of electing people who are going to support working family’s issues."

Five Democrats in the House voted against the bill. A sixth was absent when the vote was taken, but has indicated she would have voted "no" as well. Sager hints union activists are recruiting candidates so all six may face an opponent in the June 2010 Democratic primary.

"We are going to start putting together some committees in some districts and I’m sure as time goes by we’ll have a longer list," Sager says.

Sager made his comments during taping of the Iowa Public Television program, "Iowa Press," and reporter Mike Glover pressed Sager on this issue. "So your message to people in the legislature is: ‘If you don’t support us, watch out,’" Glover said.

Sager replied: "That’s always been labor’s message. The business community does the same thing. If you don’t support (the Association of Business and Industry’s) proposals, they’ll find somebody to run against you. It shouldn’t be any surprise that the labor movement has the same philosophy with regard to our agenda."

Sager added that he’s not bothered by the notion that a labor-backed Democrat who may win one of those six primaries would lose in the general election against a Republican.

John Gilliland of the Iowa Association of Business and Industry suggested the six Democrats who’re facing the ire of unions because of their vote on the "prevailing wage" bill may get support from the business community — if they survive a Democratic primary. "If they’ve got the courage to stand up to this kind of pressure, we’ll certainly be with them in November," Gilliliand said.

IPTV’s "Iowa Press" program featuring Gilliland and Sager airs tonight at 6:30.

Filed Under: Business, Politics & Government Tagged With: , , ,

Management, labor debate bills pending at statehouse

March 6, 2009 By

Representatives of the two warring sides in the statehouse battle over labor-related bills squared off this morning during taping of an Iowa Public TV program.

Ken Sager, president of the Iowa Federation of Labor, represented the union side in the debate. “We need to do things that will help strengthen the middle class,” Sager said, “and, frankly, there’s no better way to do that than to give unions a voice in the workplace and make that a process by which we can help generate more good jobs.”

John Gilliland of the Iowa Association of Business and Industry represented the management side of the equation in dismissing one bill in particular that would have required a region’s “prevailing wage” be paid to workers on taxpayer-funded construction projects. “This bill was nothing more than an attempt by 10 percent of Iowans who belong to a union to force their agenda on the other 90 percent of us,” Gilliland said.

Sager argued it’s time to pass a series of pro-union bills because something must be done to change the status quo in Iowa. ”We’ve operated under a model for a number of years in this state that says we want to have a low wage state and we’ve accomplished that,” Sager said. “We’re 41st in the nation in wages.”

Gilliland countered that improving the tax climate will yield better results. ”I think we all agree that we want higher paying jobs here, higher wage jobs,” Gilliland said, “so we do that by attracting those type of employers to Iowa.”

In addition to that “prevailing wage” bill which failed by one vote to clear the Iowa House last month, three other labor-related bills are pending at the statehouse. On Monday, a public hearing will be held in the Iowa House on one bill that would let workers injured on the job seek out a doctor of their own choice rather than be treated by a physician chosen by their employer.

Filed Under: Politics & Government Tagged With: , , ,

Child labor bill moving forward

March 6, 2009 By

The Iowa House and Senate are moving forward with laws that crack down on employers for violation the state child labor rules. It’s a reaction to allegations that the owners of the Agriprocessors meatpacking plant in Postville used underage workers. The plant was raided last spring by federal immigration officials.

Legislation in the Senate would increase the penalty for employing children. Senator Pat Ward, a republican from West Des Moines, didn’t initially support the bill as she says it didn’t protect employers who’re lied to. "And I believe that’s too harsh. I in no way support child labor but I believed that was too onerous on the employer and wouldn’t have allowed the employer to go to court and have any kind of defense, Ward says.

Ward says employers who tried to do the right thing could still have been subject to the penalty. Ward says, "Even if they checked on their ID’s and did reasonable and prudent research to determine they were 18 years old if that’s what was required for the job, this bill would have said they were guilty for working their and the employer would have had no defense on that."

Ward says the Senate has now agreed to accept the House version of the bill which stipulates that only truly negligent employers will be charged — a move that makes it more acceptable to her. Under the bill, an employer would face a one-year jail sentence and 18-hundred dollar fine for knowingly hiring an underage worker.  

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Storm Lake students protest over English test

March 6, 2009 By

About a dozen students protested in front of Storm Lake High School this morning to show support for a student who refused to take an English proficiency test. Senior Lori Phanachone wouldn’t take the test last Friday, saying it was "insulting and degrading."

Her sister Lisa was one of the protesters. Lisa Phanachone says, "The test is for English language learners and about half of the people who take that test are not learning English, they know English. Me and my sister, we grew up speaking English so it’s not new to us."

She says the test has kindergarten-level questions. Both girls were born in the U.S., but are of Laotian heritage. Lisa says she’s taken the test in the past, but won’t take it again. She was joined at the protest by Storm Lake student Jamie Cords.

Cords says: "The test is very discriminating. It should be based on somebody’s GPA rather than what their language is. If they’re just going to target minority students because they don’t speak English at home, that’s not really fair." School officials say the Iowa-English Language Development Assessment is required under "No Child Left Behind" to assess English proficiency of students whose first language isn’t English.

High school students who were proficient on the test the past two years weren’t required to take it this year. Superintendent Paul Tedesco issued a statement Thursday saying the district isn’t pursing expulsion nor will it deny graduation to any student based on behavior in the English language testing.

 

 

Filed Under: Education

Top high school archers compete in Des Moines

March 6, 2009 By

High school girls’ basketball players aren’t the only ones competing in a state tournament this weekend. Hundreds of young archers from across Iowa are also in the state’s capitol city for their annual state tourney. Ben Berka, the Iowa D.N.R.’s shooting sports coordinator, says it’s part of the National Archery in the Schools Program.

"It’s in over 5,000 schools nationwide and also in Canada and Australia," Berka says. "We’ve got over 120 schools here in Iowa doing this and the state championship event this weekend will be the culminating event here for Iowa shooters." The finals will bring about 550 top archers from 20 Iowa schools to Des Moines.

The program was started just seven years ago in Kentucky, reached Iowa in 2004 and is now in 46 states and three nations. Berka says it’s typically offered to students in grades four through 12. The archers will be shooting in a standardized international target archery format with 300 possible points in individual and team competitions. Each participant will shoot 15 arrows from ten meters and 15 arrows from 15 meters.

The top archers in this weekend’s events will be eligible to qualify for the national championships to be held in May in Louisville, Kentucky. Berka says the archery program is growing in popularity in Iowa and many other places. Berka says the ultimate goal is to get more kids outdoors, involved and interested in hunting.

"Teachers tell us all the time that a lot of these kids that come out for this sport aren’t involved in other athletics and extracurricular activities," Berka says. "It’s something they can find and excel in." The archery state championships are underway at the Iowa Events Center at Veteran’s Auditorium as part of the Iowa Deer Classic.

Students taking part are from the following school districts: Adel-DeSoto-Minburn, Alburnett, Anamosa, Bellevue, Boone, North Iowa, Central City, Davenport, Diagonal, Earlham, Cardinal, Johnston, Lake Mills, Central Decatur, Mount Vernon, North Mahaska, Spencer and Waterloo.

For more information on the program, go to the the D.N.R.’s shooting page on its website.

 

Filed Under: Recreation & Entertainment Tagged With:

UNI’s Jacobsen is Valley coach of the year

March 6, 2009 By

For the first time since 1997 and only the second time in school history, a University of Northern Iowa coach has earned the Rawlings Missouri Valley Conference Coach of the Year honor, as Ben Jacobson is this year’s winner.

Jacobson led the Panthers to a share of the Missouri Valley Conference regular season title – the first in UNI’s 18th season in the league.

 

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Drake falls to Indiana State in MVC tourney

March 6, 2009 By

A season that began with so much promise ended in the play-in round at the Missouri Valley Conference tournament as Drake fell to Indiana State 62-55.

The Bulldogs trailed by as many as 21 points in the second half before staging a furious rally that set them pull to within one with a minute and a half remaining.

Bucky Cox closed out his career by scoring a season high 27 points and the bulldogs end the season with a record of 17-15. The Syacamores advance to take on top seeded UNI in tday’s first quarterfinal round game.

Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With: ,
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