Portside Date: February 21, 2017

Author: Grant Rodgers and William Petroski

Date of source: February 20, 2017

The Des Moines Register

A union representing 40,000 Iowa government workers filed a lawsuit Monday seeking to halt implementation of the state's new law altering the collective bargaining rights of public employees.

A Des Moines attorney representing the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees Iowa Council 61 described the changes as "draconian" in the complaint, which seeks an injunction hearing as soon as possible.

Gov. Terry Branstad signed the collective bargaining law Friday, less than a day after it passed both chambers of the GOP-controlled Legislature.

It bans public employee unions in most cases from negotiating over issues such as health insurance, evaluation procedures, staff reduction and leaves of absence for political purposes. Police officers and firefighters are exempted from that portion of the law, a move that AFSCME argues in the lawsuit violates the Iowa Constitution by creating "favored" and "disfavored" groups of government workers.

“We are basically suing over the unconstitutionality of the law,” AFSCME President Danny Homan said at a news conference. “We believe the law treats public employees differently.”

One example is how police on Iowa’s college campuses will not have the same bargaining rights as other police officers in Iowa, even though they have the same duties and face similar dangers, Homan said. He also noted that prison correctional officers are not considered public safety employees, yet he noted they can face serious threats, such as HIV-infected inmates throwing urine on them.

The lawsuit contends that the new law violates Article 1, Section 6 of the Iowa Constitution that reads, in part, "the general assembly shall not grant to any citizen, or class of citizens, privileges or immunities, which, upon the same terms shall not equally belong to all citizens.”

Homan also contended that supporters of the bill have been misrepresenting the provisions of the legislation.

“For any Republican legislator who says we have the ability to sit down and talk with the employer about things that are not listed as illegal, it is wrong,” Homan said.

The lawsuit is filed in Polk County District Court, but Homan said he ultimately expects the case to be decided by the Iowa Supreme Court.

The lawsuit is similar in some ways to litigation that labor unions took to both state and federal courts following the passage of Act 10 in Wisconsin, a 2011 law that ended collective bargaining for public employees. Union lawsuits there were ultimately unsuccessful in front of both the Wisconsin Supreme Court and the 7th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals.

But Lester Pines, a Madison, Wis., attorney who serves as counsel to the local teachers' union, said an Iowa lawsuit could turn out differently.

"Article 1, Section 6 of the Iowa Constitution is very specific," he said. “I really wish I would've had this provision to argue in Wisconsin, to be honest with you."

Ben Hammes, a spokesperson for Branstad, said he could not comment on the merits of the lawsuit. But the law was a necessary step that gives state and local governments more freedom to "effectively manage their resources," he said.

"It's not surprising that Danny Homan, the former vice chair of the Democrat Party, has desperately decided to run to the courts with expensive litigation," he said. "Since the 1970s, organized labor and their special interests have hid behind an outdated law that routinely won out against the best interests of Iowa taxpayers who make public employment possible. I can proudly say that will no longer be the case."

Four public employees who are AFSCME members are listed as plaintiffs in the lawsuit: a corrections officer, an Iowa State University police officer, a motor vehicle enforcement officer and a drafter.

Labor groups and Democrats have assailed the new law as an attack on workers, while Republican lawmakers have argued that the measures protect taxpayers and give more control to local government leaders.