The political talk is already hot and heavy on the issue of Project Labor Agreements following today's action by Governor Culver.

The IFL's 15th Biennial Pre-Primary COPE Convention will be held on April 17, 2010. As a result, convention credentials must be sent out 60 days prior to convention. Please have your local union's mail receiving officer watch for these important documents.  For more information, please check our calendar events.

You will not want to miss the Senatorial Forum that is scheduled for Monday, February 22, 2010 at the IFL's Legislative Conference held at Adventureland Inn!  If you have not already registered for the conference, email kristi@iowaaflcio.org to get the necessary information to do so.

Senatorial candidates Roxanne Conlin, Tom Fiegen and Bob Krause have all committed to the forum and will stay to visit with conference participants at the Legislative hospitality following adjournment.

Questions? Call the Federation office at (515) 262-9571.

Republican Senate leaders are so frightened that a member of the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) might actually have an open mind about workers’ rights, that in two purely partisan maneuvers, they’ve blocked a majority vote on one of President Obama’s nominees for an NLRB seat. Read More>>

Earlier this week, we noted a new study that predicts health insurance premiums will jump between 10 percent and 11 percent this year. Now a new government report says health care costs last year took the biggest bite ever out of the nation’s economy. Read More>>

Labor Secretary Hilda Solis says workers face increasing obstacles when they try to form unions and “we need to restore their freedom to do so.” In testimony before the U.S. House Education and Labor Committee today, Solis looked back at the department’s actions in 2009 and forward to its 2010 agenda. Read More>>

What we are asking for: A public health insurance plan should be an option for everyone, alongside private health insurance plans. The public health insurance plan would compete on a level playing field with private plans and would be administered by government but funded through premiums.

The Iowa Federation of Labor urges Senator Grassley to put aside partisanship and join with the House and with President Obama in supporting the economic recovery bill. Now is not the time for “politics as usual.” We need the Senate to act quickly and responsibly and pass this bill now.

Counterterrorism expert Erroll Southers was nominated in September by President Barack Obama and approved by the Senate's Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee last month. But Senate tradition allows a single senator to slow down a nomination, and Senator Jim DeMint, Republican, South Carolina, has done just that--holding up nomination because of a dispute over whether TSA workers should have collective bargaining. Southers, assistant chief for homeland security at the Los Angeles World Airports Police Department, is widely respected and likely to be confirmed once DeMint lifts his hold, Roth said. DeMint is fearful TSA employess would unionize under Souther's leadership.

The Iowa Federation of Labor, AFL-CIO is the state federation of labor representing over 50,000 members of 520 unions throughout Iowa. The mission of the Iowa Federation of Labor, AFL-CIO is to improve the lives of working families—to bring economic justice to the workplace and social justice to our state and the nation.

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