Post offices are the beating heart of the country’s oldest and most trusted public service; but cost-cutting and short staffing are causing delays, long lines, and reduced retail hours. When thousands of us demand better post offices, we can make a change. Add your voice to postal workers’ warnings about short staffing, reduced hours at … Read more
Senate bill would hurt Iowa’s public sector unions and schools. Senate File 2374, which the Iowa Senate Workforce Committee approved along party lines last week, would cripple public sector unions while once again attacking public schools. Iowa’s Republican trifecta gutted the 40-year-old public sector collective bargaining law in 2017. The changes tilted the bargaining table so much toward … Read more
Do you have a health care/prescription drug story? Millions of people of all ages and all backgrounds have to choose every day between paying for prescription medicine and buying groceries or other basic necessities because prescription drug corporations have monopoly power to price-gouge us on prescriptions that we need to manage our health. These corporations … Read more
Go to: https://iowacan.org/ for more information During his State of the Union speech, President Biden promised to improve the quality of long-term care in nursing homes with new federal minimum staffing requirements, increased oversight and enforcement, and expanded workforce initiatives to recruit and retain staff. Unbelievably, there currently is no standard so nursing home operators … Read more
Here is what we have found regarding the bills we have been watching (some of these may have changed as things are moving quickly). Transparency Bill requires teachers to post course materials online. House File 2577 would require public school teachers to post their lesson plans and materials online for parents to review. The House … Read more
We should celebrate public schools, the students who learn in them, those who teach and work in them and the communities that support them. We all have a teacher, bus driver, cafeteria worker, custodian, or other school staff who has influenced them. We know that here in Iowa it’s not an easy time to be … Read more
Whatever happened to Iowa Nice? This Legislative Session, with so many of us still being touched by the Covid Pandemic and its aftermath, Governor Reynolds and Republican lawmakers should be finding ways to work together with both sides of the aisle to create legislation to help Iowans, instead they are making life harder. The needs … Read more
Excerpts from a February 20, 2022 Des Moines Register article by Stephen Gruber-Miller and Ian Richardson Iowa lawmakers have introduced hundreds of bills this legislative session, but many died after falling victim to the Legislature’s “funnel” deadline. To survive, bills must have received approval from a full committee in one chamber. The funnel does not … Read more