Jeff Charis-Carlson

jcharisc@press-citizen.com

The union representing 3,500 health care workers at the University of Iowa is asking the courts to decide whether it already has a binding contract with the Iowa Board of Regents.

Service Employees International Union, Local 199, filed a lawsuit Friday against the board that oversees Iowa's three public universities. The union argues that its members already accepted and ratified a two-year contract proposal with the regents and UI Hospitals and Clinics.

Josh Lehman, a regents spokesman, said the board does not comment on pending legislation.

Regent officials have said in the past that the board failed to reach agreements before Feb. 17 with any of the unions representing faculty, students or staff at UI, Iowa State University or the University of Northern Iowa. On that day, Iowa Gov. Terry Branstad signed legislation severely limiting the list of mandatory and permissible topics on which public employees could bargain collectively.

Lehman said last month, however, that the Iowa Public Employment Relations Board had issued guidance Feb. 17 stating that the bargaining process must start anew.

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“This is an attack on all workers at the University of Iowa,” Cathy Glasson, president of Local 199, said in a news release. "SEIU members overwhelmingly voted to accept UIHC's final contract offer weeks before the law was signed. This law was rammed through by self-interested politicians in the state Legislature and Gov. Terry Branstad using corporate-backed language that undercuts the freedom of employees to join together and have a say at their workplaces."

Members of SEIU's UIHC chapter voted Feb. 7 to ratify a previous proposal from the regents. That two-year contract including provisions for guaranteed raises, flexible schedules and a voice on the job.

The union is seeking for the courts to direct the board to comply with the 2017-19 contract. The union's current two-year contract is set to expire June 30.

SEIU's lawsuit comes during the same week that board approved a new two-year contract with United Faculty/AAUP, the union that represents about 550 faculty members at UNI. The contract, which was approved in a telephonic meeting Tuesday, calls for a 1.1 percent pay raise in both the 2017-18 and 2018-19 fiscal years.

Members of UI's Campaign to Organize Graduate Students, UE Local 896, recently rejected a similar offer from the regents.

Reach Jeff Charis-Carlson at jcharisc@press-citizen.com or 319-887-5435. Follow him on Twitter as @JeffCharis.