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Political Action Committee
Statement from AFSCME Iowa President Danny Homan on HSB-117
In a marathon session that lasted until 6 am (for a total of 15 hours!), the House Labor committee passed out HSB117, a bill we've been warning you about. That's the bill that we've called "Wisconsin Lite," and its goal is to destroy public sector bargaining in Iowa. Democrats filed 58 amendments to try and fix all the problems with the bill, only to have every Republican vote them down. In fact, check out Rep. Greg Forristall (R) paying close attention to the debate by listening to his headphones and reading his computer! After such a long night of fighting for your rights, these Representatives sure could use a pick me up. You can't send them a Red Bull or a V8, but you sure can send them a thank you note. Please send a thank you to:
Contact them by clicking on the links to find their contact
information. Please be respectful, and do not use a work phone or email
address. In Solidarity, Danny Homan |
Bill to Eliminate Bargaining Rights Passes House Labor Committee
HSB 117 has passed the Iowa House Labor Committee after debate lasting
until 6am Friday February 25. Representatives supportive of rights to
bargain submitted numerous amendments which were all voted down by those
against bargaining rights. AFSCME Iowa has a picture of how important our
rights were being considered during the debate. The bill is expected to go before the
full House of Representatives next week. Public statements by supporters of the current bill have suggested their intent to remove "egregious elements of the bill" (their words) such as ability for public employees to exempt themselves from the collective bargaining agreement and "cut their own deal" (called "Free Agency" by bill authors), but other elements destructive to collective bargaining remain in the bill.
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AFSCME Iowa Lobby Day, March 9, 2011
Lobby day this year will be more critical than ever. What is happening in Wisconsin could happen here if we don't take action to be informed and voice our opinion to members of the state legislature and our governor. See the report from last years lobby day for an idea of what it is like. Several members and officers are already planning to attend. Employees who will be attending, need to arrange for vacation leave or be otherwise unscheduled for their time away from work. AFSCME Iowa Council 61 is hosting all members across the state with a full day of activities to inform and enable our voice to be heard. Here are the details:
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AFSCME Iowa Lobby Day, March 3, 2010
Report by Deb Carter: Andy Bock, Jean McMaken and Deb Carter went to lobby day in Des Moines on March 3, 2010. The day started at the Embassy Suites with refreshments and remarks by President Danny Homan, Deputy Political Director Mitchell Stille, and Legislative Director Marcia Nichols, who discussed, among other things, the status of the Fair Share legislation. We were asked to encourage our legislators to support Fair Share and Governor Culver’s Education budget and thank them for doing so. AFSCME membership is up to 14,268
statewide
- that number will decrease with employees that take early retirement. Vic Elias of the Iowa Children and
Family Policy Center talked about the revenue problem in Iowa.
He maintained that the revenue decline shouldn’t be fixed only through
spending less and cutting services that Iowans depend on.
He advocated closing tax loopholes and getting rid of wasteful tax
credits. Our breakout group was with other
Regents
employees and Regent lobbyist Keith Saunders. Individuals spoke
to Keith about inefficiencies and policies at their institutions and
Keith explained how the funding in the legislature might happen with
a lower beginning allotment and a later reversion as happened this year. Awards were presented to Friends of
AFSCME and AFSCME Road Crew and maintenance members for their service.
After a nice lunch, we left for the Capitol where we had photo-ops with
our representatives. Andy, with other AFSCME members, lobbied for Reasonable Reimbursement with Representative Lisa Heddens. (Please write to Representative
Heddens with your reasons supporting reasonable reimbursement. She needs to
hear from us!) Debbie thanked State Senator Herman Quirmbach for
his support of reasonable reimbursement legislation and they talked briefly about
his meeting with the Chamber in Ames and his clarifying comments
regarding reasonable reimbursement on an Ames radio program. AFSCME was personally welcomed
by the Governor who provided refreshments in his office. |