William Petroski

bpetrosk@dmreg.com

A bill that rewrites Iowa's collective bargaining law for public employees is headed to the Iowa Senate floor, with Republicans saying it will benefit taxpayers and Democrats warning it will create deep bitterness within the ranks of state and local government workers.

Senate File 213 was approved on a 7-4 vote Thursday by the Senate Labor and Business Relations Committee in an Iowa Capitol committee room jammed with about 175 people, mostly public employees who opposed the bill. All Republicans voted in favor, and all Democrats were against.

The legislation is expected to be debated by the full House and Senate sometime next week.

Sen. Jason Schultz, R-Schleswig, the bill's floor manager, said he recognizes the bill is contentious. But he said it will restore control to local elected officials that has been lost since the state's collective bargaining law was enacted in the 1970s.

"We find ourselves in a different America and a different Iowa," he added.

MORE COVERAGE: The 5 key changes in the collective bargaining bill

Under the bill, public employees who are not engaged in public safety work would only be able to bargain on wages. That's a significant change from current law, which requires benefits such as health insurance, vacation time and seniority perks, as well as work conditions such as hours, overtime pay and evaluation procedures, to be negotiated collectively. In addition, many of those items that currently must be bargained for would be explicitly banned from future negotiations, including insurance and seniority benefits and evaluation procedures.

“I have received a tremendous amount of positive feedback behind the scenes," Schultz said. "What I hear from them is that while they support this, they are afraid to come forward. They are afraid of the toxic environment, the retribution in the workplace."

Senate Democrats vehemently opposed the bill.

Sen. Rich Taylor, D-Mount Pleasant, a retired employee of the Iowa State Penitentiary at Fort Madison, characterized the legislation as an attack on public employees and their families.

"This is war against the workers of Iowa. This is all-out war," Taylor said.

Sen. Tony Bisignano, D-Des Moines, who served in the past as a local union president as well as Polk County's human resources director, criticized the bill for "killing a fly with a sledgehammer." He predicted the legislation will be a death knell for public employees' unions because it will prevent union dues from being deducted from worker paychecks.

"Life is is going to be dramatically different for every employee who is covered under this," Bisignano warned. "They are your neighbors and your relatives and they are people who do a great service for you. I feel bad that they have to sit here today and see that they have become the problem. Because that is how they feel; that they have become the problem.”

Sen. William Dotzler, D-Waterloo, said the proposal has provisions that will lead to many unintended consequences.

"In rural Iowa, you will really lose teachers" who will leave for wealthier urban districts that can offer better pay, he said.

Sen. Nate Boulton, D-Des Moines, who is an attorney, said the legislation will permit local officials who don't understand the work of public employees to dictate the terms of their employment. Local elected officials already have a seat at the table for contract talks, but the bill is aimed at "rigging the outcome of the process," he said.

Schultz defended the bill, saying that outside groups, including Americans for Prosperity and Associated Builders & Contractors of Iowa, had "zero input" into the drafting of the legislation.

"I can look you in the eye and tell you they did not author one syllable of this bill," although they were encouraging and offered help, Schultz told Bisignano.

Meanwhile, Iowa House Speaker Linda Upmeyer, R-Clear Lake, rejected criticism of the bill by opponents who contend it will drive down teachers' salaries and will result in difficulties for school districts that want to attract science and math teachers.

"I can't imagine why people would think that teachers would be paid less," Upmeyer said. "I don't think this translates to lower salaries. I think this translates to opportunities that we haven't even thought of."

Rep. Steve Holt, R-Denison, said school superintendents tell him they are excited about the legislation because it will help them reward good teachers and give them bonuses.

"I haven't talked with any superintendents at any time who say this gives us an opportunity to lower salaries for teachers. It is just the opposite," Holt said.

In a related matter, Sgt. Ryan Doty, member of the Gold Braid Organization, a bargaining unit for just over 70 Des Moines police administration personnel, said that while lawmakers intend to largely exempt public safety from the legislation, making sweeping changes to collective bargaining for others would make it easier “to attack” law enforcement unions in the future.

Doty said he works for a fair employer, but there is no guarantee who his next boss will be.

“What kind of position does that put law enforcement in if you’re afraid to enforce laws that are unpopular to your boss and be fired without cause for doing it?” he said.

The Register's MacKenzie Elmer contributed to this story.